Extending the Sport Jersey Rally with Real-Time Data
Retailers counting on sports team apparel sales to drive fourth quarter sales know that trends change on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. And more are realizing that what happens off the field may be as big a driver as happens on, as Taylor Swift recently helped prove.
To make the most of fast-changing preferences, brick-and-mortar retailers working with sports apparel need to adjust their in-store setup to reflect trends happening outside the store walls. Optimizing product positioning is crucial for capitalizing on trends, whether customers are looking for Messi pink or Mahomes red and gold.
Using In-Store Data to Understand Changing Consumer Preferences
The demographics of sport fandom are constantly evolving around the globe. Retailers can use in-store analytics to understand how these changes affect product sales.
Using heat maps and dwell time measurement to understand how consumers move around a retailer’s physical space is a fact-based way to improve store layout and product positioning. But are there additional details that could give physical retailers an edge? If so, can they be captured without offending privacy rules or consumers’ expectations of anonymity?
Physical retailers prize insights about the visitors to their store but can sometimes struggle to harness insights in a dynamic fashion. Understanding if visitors are part of group, male or female, child or adult can help shape many decisions related to in-store marketing and product positioning.
Using Demographics to Optimize Store Layout
Gut instinct may be crucial on the field, the pitch, the court or rink, but it’s also proven to be a poor guide for retail success. Retailers, especially physical shops competing with online retailers, need rich data about visitors.
Taylor Swift’s September visit to Arrowhead Stadium to watch beau Travis Kelce play for the Kansas City Chiefs led to a 400% surge in jersey sales, according to media reports. A physical retailer equipped to understand specific characteristics of the consumers driving the increase—by most accounts not traditional Chiefs’ fans—can quickly devise strategies to promote upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
Cross-selling, upselling, and optimized associate allocation are easier and more lucrative when retailers can quickly identify trends and shorten testing periods. Accurate real-time data, including demographic data, can automate in-store processes and provide actionable insights about performance at the store- and retail chain-level to different stakeholders.
Using Xovis to Capture Accurate, Real-Time Data
Capturing accurate, responsible, objective data on consumer movements can help extend the sport jersey rally pre-, post- and regular season. But it can also support cost-management and loss prevention strategies year-round.
Xovis’ 3D stereovision sensors are known for all-pro precision, which is why retailers across categories use them for simple and advanced use cases. The company’s award-winning sensors are equipped with a suite of AI-powered People Attributes—including height-based child/ adult differentiation, group counting, staff exclusion and gender expression—that are essential for data-driven retailers.
A winning streak, a losing streak, a new romance, a trade can all shift the fortunes of athletes, teams and sport apparel retailers. A floor manager may not be able to do much about postseason depth or biassed referees, but they can use data from Xovis to up their in-store game.
Tags: | retail | technology | shrinkage | consumer | analytics