Amidst the shifting economic landscape, retailers and brands have no choice but to evolve for survival. Digitalisation and the pandemic have altered consumer behaviour, making it harder to understand how consumers are shopping today.
In the Sell Smarter with Retail Analytics: Understand Consumer Demand with Market Insights webinar, Omnilytics and Singapore Retailers Association aimed to answer this exact question.
Joined by our special guest, Bessie Ye of local womenswear label r y e, we discussed the importance of analytics in the pivot to digitalising retail and an opportunity for Singaporean retailers to use Omnilytics at no cost through IMDA’s Digital Resilience Bonus of SGD 5,000.
Here are the highlights from the event:
Uniting Teams via Market Insights
As explained by our CEO Kendrick Wong, Omnilytics’s data platform can be utilised across teams to assist retailers and brands in a multitude of tasks related to each retail function. The four main areas that would benefit from the use of data analytics are sales, pricing, distribution and trend validation.
The data that Omnilytics capture allows brands to understand the market conditions by monitoring the trade movement of key competitors. This provides insights into where consumers are shopping from, the types of products being sold and at what price point. These insights then are able to inform retail decisions such as planning pricing strategies, selecting distribution channels and product development process.
Omnilytics provides a single data resource that all teams can refer to for the latest market insights, down to SKU level.
Given the massive change in today’s lifestyle due to Covid-19, the corresponding shifts in consumer habits have impacted retail greatly. With past data no longer having precedence in navigating the current landscape, having access to real-time information is critical for decision making. While market insights cannot solve every problem, it acts as a compass to lead retailers and brands to the best opportunities.
As said by Wong, “Omnilytics does not try to tell you what to do or create, we help you to validate your ideas.”
How r y e Achieved 60% Growth through Omnilytics
r y e is a contemporary womenswear brand based in Singapore. Bessie Ye, its founder and designer, first discovered Omnilytics three years ago and has been using it to grow the brand’s e-commerce presence across the local market.
The independent brand, established in 2016, was only beginning to expand online at the time but found many challenges in scaling its e-commerce channels. Ye was convinced that it was due to a lack of digital marketing and exposure.
However, later she discovered that many of the challenges the brand faced stemmed from merchandising. Catering to a new niche in the market, Ye wanted the brand to develop organically but underestimated the importance of assortment planning and buying practices to drive sell-through.
As like many SMEs, r y e runs on a risk-averse business model and much of the resources the brand has is spent on inventory, therefore the buying plan has to be calculated thoroughly to reduce any unwanted risks. Investing in the right products is absolutely essential for r y e to maintain a healthy cash flow.
Ye has found Omnilytics useful when planning her Open-to-Buy, she validates her buying decisions by comparing the performance of similar products in the market to understand its commercial value. She uses it, particularly when introducing more high fashion items that are typically riskier. The insights help her to identify the right distribution channels that are appropriate for each product.
Overall, Ye credits Omnilytics for deepening her merchandising knowledge such as in discounting and handling ageing products, which has come useful amidst the pandemic. In a time when so many retailers are rushing to liquidate stock, having access to market insights allows RYE to plan targetted markdowns and reduce surplus stocks effectively.
Gaining Insights into Consumer Demand
One of the ways Omnilytics allows retailers and brands to identify consumer demand is by monitoring product trends. The Trend Performance solution offers insights into trending styles within a category or subcategory along with information on trending colours, patterns, materials and its ideal price point.
In the example above, we can see that wedges are among the top-performing styles in women’s shoes. The popular colours and materials used are listed, as well as the top brands stocking this style with the number of SKUs available. The average price point and discount percentage offered are also highlighted.
Omnilytics can also help in determining the best time to launch a new product or discount. The data captured can even narrow down new launches to the exact date it first appeared on the website.
Our data points extend to the design process too. Omnilytics’s colour composition provides insights into macro colours trends existing within a category. Based on image recognition technology, our colour wheels are integrated with Pantone, allowing designers to access the exact colour code and shade the product comes in.
Selling Smarter with Retail Analytics
With consumer preferences shifting on the dime, keeping track of consumer demand is especially hard during this period. Digitalisation has caused the market to become fragmented and consumers are no longer shopping like how they used to. While many are turning to discounts to liquidate stock, this move is both dangerous and unprofitable.
Data analytics can help brands and retailers to uncover where and how consumers are spending their money, ultimately allowing them to save on expenses, manage inventory and create products with a higher potential to sell-out.
The Digital Resilience Bonus (DRB) by IMDA aims to equip local SMEs with the right tools to overcome the hurdles caused by Covid-19. The DRB payout offers eligible brands with SSICs registered under retail, a subsidy to use Omnilytics at zero cost. Click here to find out if your brand qualifies or watch a replay of this webinar to see Omnilytics’s data platform in action.
About the Author
Sufiana Sharuddin
Sufiana Sharuddin is a published fashion writer, honing her interest in the industry during her time at Condé Nast College of Fashion and Design. She currently covers a variety of topics within the industry including business, technology, trends and current affairs.
