Gladys Kong is CEO at UberMedia
By Gladys Kong
It is a nerve-racking time to be in the retail business.
Industry experts have been warning us about the so-called “death of retail” for years, and it is starting to seem like the end is finally here.
More than 7,000 bricks-and-mortar stores have shuttered so far this year, and experts expect that number to reach 12,000 by year’s end, which would be a new record. This is on the heels of the more than 8,000 store closures in 2017 – an all-time high – followed by another 5,500 closures in 2018.
Meanwhile, United States Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin wants to investigate Amazon for, he claims, monopolizing and “destroying” the retail industry.
Contrary to what the headlines may lead you to believe, it is not all doom and gloom.
Tight fit
Plenty of new brands have entered retail – chic athleticwear brand Lululemon just opened a 20,000-square-foot space in Chicago, its largest retail space ever, for instance – and legacy brands such as Gap have found success blending the convenience of ecommerce with the brand and visibility benefits of having bricks-and-mortar showrooms.
One such success story is Tailored Brands, the holding group that includes menswear brands Men’s Wearhouse, Joseph Abboud and Jos. A Bank, and British corporate apparel brands Twin Hill, Alexandra and Dimensions.
Tailored Brands is grappling with the same challenges facing the rest of the retail and professional apparel industries – namely, the existential threat posed by Amazon and offices adopting more casual dress policies.
Still, sales are holding steady, and the company outperformed revenue projections in its most recent quarterly earnings period. It is achieving this success by using consumer behavior data to make more informed decisions about its stores and how to best service its customers.
Right fit
Using UberMedia’s mobile location database, Tailored Brands has been able to identify locations where its stores are most likely to succeed, and make better decisions about where to open new stores.
Tailored Brands used our mobile location data tools to study foot traffic patterns around its own retail stores.
After that, Tailored Brands conducted a similar analysis on 13,000 other retail locations.
UberMedia analyzed the two datasets and was able to identify the retail locations where consumers have behavior patterns similar to Tailored Brands’ best-performing locations.
Whenever a new retail space becomes available, Tailored Brands can immediately determine if it is a good fit for one of its stores and make a quick, informed decision whether to lease the space.
Mobile location data has also helped improve Tailored Brands’ CRM system.
Using mobile location data, Tailored Brands was able to match consumers’ in-store location data to their customers’ household data with near perfect – 94 percent – accuracy, allowing them to better understand their customer base and improve their marketing in all channels.
NO COMPANY can stop the seismic shifts in the retail industry.
But they can beat Amazon at their own game: using data to drive sales and make smarter business decisions.
Gladys Kong is CEO at UberMedia, Pasadena, CA. Reach her at Gladys@ubermedia.com.