Holiday Trends Highlight Increased Role for Location Intelligence

Posted by PBBI on November 02, 2009 in Location Intelligence

This post is written by Al Beery, Director of Strategy & Analytics and Brian Hill, Manager of Strategy & Analytics at Pitney Bowes.

Over the next few months, consumers will head to the malls, superstores, and in increasing numbers, to their laptops—and retailers will be looking for any edge they can find to increase sales and margins during this holiday shopping season.

Given the sluggish economy, cost pressures and changing consumer behaviors, there has never been a better time to leverage Location Intelligence in your business. Retailers, manufacturers and shippers will find ways this year to move product to more people in smart, cost-effective ways by analyzing the relationship between distribution centers, retail sites, critical customer segments and household locations.

This is especially critical in light of expected shifts in customer behavior. The down economy means that many customers are buying less, they’re more price-conscious, and they are more selective about what they buy. Many customers are also buying more online—increasing the role of logistics and fleet management.

Using location intelligence to chart how these trends are impacting your business is often the key to greater profitability. Better Location Intelligence can help you to:

• Better project performance of existing retail sites
• Determine optimal locations for new retail sites
• More effectively allocate marketing dollars
• Chart more efficient delivery routes
• Reassess distribution-center locations in light of the increased proportion of direct-to-consumer shipping

In fact, companies that invest in top-quality location intelligence solutions often see positive ROI inside of six months.  And many achieve a six-figure return on their investment within the year. Add in the intangibles—happier customers, happier delivery people, and happier customer-service personnel—these all result from greater efficiencies, better communications, and better information sharing throughout your organization.

More information on how Location Intelligence and other data-quality improvements can enhance day-to-day and long-term business performance is available in our white paper:  “Special Delivery:  Just-in-time Savings.”

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Tags: customer insight, Location Intelligence