Competing in a dynamic retail market.
Studio Retail have a rich history going back more than 50 years, offering a varied product range covering leisurewear, electrical, household, textile, bedding, furniture, nursery products, gifts and greeting cards.
Traditionally a mail order retailer, Studio now serves many of its customers online. Orders are fulfilled from centres in the North West of England, where Studio is a prominent employer.
The pressures on retailers in 2020 are well documented, with rapidly changing consumer expectations, competitive threats and economic, public health and political factors all playing their part.
To thrive it is therefore essential for retailers to deliver the most compelling customer proposition and experience possible.
Building the foundations for success.
One way in which this can be achieved is through intelligent use of data. Bain & Company state that “it is clear retailers must master data analytics to understand and delight customers who have become more demanding and harder to pigeonhole.”
Studio have embarked on their own journey to put data at the heart of their business, working with HyperFinity to establish a data science incubator. Utilising leading edge technology and combining key Studio datasets, the data science incubator has created a step change in customer insight available to Studio at the touch of a button.
The initiative is the brainchild of Ed Child, Head of Enterprise Data at Studio. “Through their data science expertise and retail optimisation tool set, HyperFinity are helping Studio to deliver against our goal of data led transformation.”
Delivering value through the Data Science Incubator.
A key facet to data science initiatives is to demonstrate value early on. The initial use case for the data science incubator focused on marketing optimisation. Ed explains, “as a multi-channel retailer offering customers outstanding value across a diverse range of products, HyperFinity are helping us to optimise marketing budgets through understanding customer behaviour and allowing us to tailor communications to our customers.”
“We anticipate this approach delivering a win–win, improving both the experience for our customers and business value for Studio.”
Customer led product range & pricing decisions.
The data science incubator offers tremendous potential as a tool to further improve Studio’s business performance, starting with buying and merchandising.
Ed continues, “we have also embarked on a project with HyperFinity to develop a customer centric approach to product range categories and pricing strategy. This will utilise the data science incubator and HyperFinity’s range optimisation product.”
“Through data led optimisation, we can ensure Studio deliver great prices on products customers want and need.”
The importance of a partnership approach.
Key to the intelligent use of data to drive successful business outcomes is working together as a client and agency partnership. The traditional approach of delivering a toolset and walking away is no longer appealing for retailers, who value agency partners who take the time to understand their business and work together to solve key challenges.
Ed concludes, “We find HyperFinity to be highly skilled and very pragmatic in their approach to using data science to solve genuine commercial challenges and improve customer experience.”
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