September 26, 2017 by Paul Sotrop – Sustaining a competitive advantage is key to retail success, which is why companies launch new products and services. The decision to add new offerings requires a keen understanding of your stores – well enough to know what works and what doesn’t. You could devote an entire team to conducting your market research for you. But as they rack up miles, man hours and paperwork, your competitors could beat you to the punch, and get their products out first.

Don’t let slow response time and limited access undermine your growth strategy. The critical stages of your strategic planning process – from conducting a SWOT analysis, identifying opportunities, evaluating your strategy, allocating resources, developing your implementation plan, monitoring progress and making adjustments – can be accomplished more accurately and efficiently using store intelligence software.

A cloud-based technology platform will drive immediate benefits, from helping you to pinpoint cost savings to the ability to pivot quickly in response to market conditions. It also helps as you set and reach your objectives. You can easily measure performance and monitor your profitability targets, including market share and ROI.

Here’s how:

Be confident that you have a sound understanding of the market. You’ll be working with the latest data, based on real-time accuracy, to help you make smarter decisions.

1. Look inward. Discover your strengths and document your store’s best practices. Spot trends and opportunities in your existing stores that you can use to your advantage when plotting your strategy.
   
   
2. Strengthen implementation of new products and services. Store intelligence can help you tailor your launch or distribution by market or even by store. You’ll be able to pinpoint which locations are most relevant or most impactful.
   
   
3. Avoid overestimating and misreading your market. With access to a store intelligence platform, you have visibility into every store’s physical attributes. You can see what each store needs and what it already has.
   
   
4. Improve execution. Ensure your team is educated and in sync with your plans. Provide store-specific instructions about your product placement and marketing to associates so they have what they need to succeed.
   
   
5. Use your real-time visibility to stay on top of the competitive landscape. Monitor pricing at several stores to understand if you’re priced right for the market. It’s easy to do with a mobile survey. You can have your answer in minutes.
   
   
6. Communicate effectively. Cloud technology empowers corporate, store-level and field support teams by streamlining communication. It gives everyone access to information, even when they’re on the go, and lets them share photos and notes.
   
   

AccuStore^® is the store-specific intelligence you need to maximize execution and grow your bottom line. Our cost-effective, technology-based solution holds a detailed repository of store-level profile information and market data to become your company’s single source of insight into store compliance, equipment, task management and more. Let’s Talk!