How do you use data to inspire creativity in your merchandise strategy?

Data helps adapt to the consumers needs so they can get the correct product. It's so that the consumer reaches the maximum result so they are not disappointed

It begins with understanding your customers, what are their needs and how do they fullfill them. Understanding their customer journey and shopper decision tree influences your merchandising solutions. Data is key.

In my experience when discussing the yearly marketing calender, this was an important starting point to create a new agenda. What trends did we learn last year, what do we expect coming year? How are we going to 'exploit' this commercially? For example in my country Black Friday was not a big deal, until it became an opportunity and grew bigger and bigger. Nowadays it overshadows the entire gift season. As this grew so did marketing and merchandising changed.

This is actually true, and in addition different analytical tools can help us deep dive into single product performances, helping us see if the sales increase is only due to high percentage of action sales or this product has its base price regular sales. Moreover the same tools can help retailers optimise base and action price to cope in line with price elasticity of demand. This can help reduce unnecessary discounts and increase revenues and profit.

One thing that is helpful about data is that it's able to help us monitor behavior patterns of our consumers so we are able to market against competitors

I want to add, that if you are not the only one following trends and changing behaviour. Testing not only proves your thoughts, but it is also important to test and learn how to distinguish from competition. I think you want to avoid doing the same things as your competition does as much as possible. Testing can help you find this distinction, without losing focus on your customer needs.

Data analyses can show us how to make more impact. If you select a small subcategory where there's one player who is skimming the market and you (can) have your PL there, you can carve out the assortment in such a way to make sure both consumer with brand preferences can get branded goods for best price, and budget consumer or top-uppers can get your PL in a variety of flavours , too. There little steps seem modest but if you make 20 or 30 of them you can improve both turnover and profitability.

As consumer behaviour changes, so does your merchandising never stops. What is competition doing? How is the market context changing? What has been on the effect of my merchandising plans on my organization? Plan evaluation periods, learn and adjust.

Very often one cannot see everything just by looking at the numbers. You have to go to the field, turn, look, observe, and see for yourself Only and only then you will be able to see the opportunities for example of microlocations: near school, offer a bundle of non-carbonated drink with small sandwich; near hospital, offer good still water per package for a price, etc. The staff from the store can often be the source of many hidden chances for your business. Never be afraid to go out and inspect your odds, talk to people and then put ideas on paper.

By combining your creative insights with these data-driven approaches, you can better understand your customers, adapt to market trends, and make informed decisions to optimize your merchandise strategy and increase profitability. It is a cycle, and you need to adapt and adjust.