The right retail analytics tool can make all the difference, but not all analytics solutions are created equal.
Finding the right retail analytics software – and using it to the fullest – is crucial in a brand’s evolution from analytics lightweight to analytics heavyweight.
But what should Walmart suppliers demand of an analytics solution? Don't compromise on these 11 checkpoints:
1. Visibility & Insights
This should be the price of admission for any retail analytics tool. To be genuinely worthy of your consideration, retail analytics software must be able to accurately and consistently illuminate the specific details and dynamics that matter most to your Walmart business.
Before adopting a retail analytics solution, make sure you’re clear on what questions would help you grow your sales – and keep shopping until you find a tool that will answer those precise questions. Don’t settle.
A retail analytics tool can pay for itself multiple times over, but only if you choose a tool that offers clear visibility and actionable insights where and when it matters most.
2. Security/Confidentiality
Security may not be all that exciting, but it’s a showstopper for any Walmart supplier and its use (or even consideration) of a retail analytics tool. Retail analytics software must guard a company’s data, insights, and reports – both from external players as well as internal team members who may not be authorized to access certain parts of the system. Your retail analytics tool is full of sensitive, proprietary information, and you must be convinced of the tool’s ability to protect it. Or it’s a no-go.
3. Strategic Data Integrations
As a Walmart supplier, your retail analytics software should be more than, well, analytics software. It should be a platform for connecting all the data sources and reporting applications that matter to your business. The right platform for your brand will be able to pull from data streams across the wide world of retail. You want a platform, not just software.
4. Planogram & Space Planning Capabilities
In brick-and-mortar retail, the planogram/modular is where it’s at. That’s why brands and their category management team diligently collect information around planograms, and carefully draw up plans to maximize their on-shelf presence. And a good retail analytics solution should be able to guide your planogram activity – but only if it’s able to incorporate planogram data and renderings. Look for a retail analytics solution that can handle planogram data, and make better space planning decisions along the way.
5. Automated Data Collection
Speaking of data collection, trust us, you want to stop importing datasets the old way – manually. We’re talking about a real game-changer here. Insist on a retail analytics solution that will automatically pull in data from Retail Link, Luminate, syndicated data sources, and the like. And put it all in one platform. While you sleep. Game-changer.
6. Automated Reporting/Communication
In addition to automated data collection on the front end, you want automated reporting and communication on the back end. Set up the output you want, how you want it, and let automation take it from there – creating more time for you and your team to focus elsewhere. Specifically, look for a retail analytics tool with automated email communication. Stop assembling and sending Monday morning emails to your team, updating everybody on the previous week or weekend. Choose a retail analytics solution that does that for you automatically.
7. Insightful Visualizations
Something about “a picture being worth a thousand words.” This is especially true with data and analytics. A pivot table? Not great. A bar chart? Getting better, but still underwhelming. But when you can look at, for instance, a color-coded map of America to locate under-performing and over-performing stores…now we’re talking about a powerful ally in your campaign to grow sales. Visualizations turn into sources of valuable insights, with the right retail analytics solution.
8. Flexibility & Choice (i.e., Ad Hoc Reporting)
At the end of the day, how you want to work matters the most. We recommend aiming for as much automation and visual appeal with your reporting as possible. The right retail analytics solution for your team will give you the power of choice over your reports and reporting. Want to use a standard dashboard? Want to make your own dashboard? Want to use a BI tool like Tableau? Want to generate an Excel file? You should be able to do it all with your retail analytics solution, or it’s probably not the right one for you.
9. Powerful Filtering
And this flexibility and choice should extend to your filtering options. If you want to view, analyze, and understand your business at-large, or a specific brand, or a specific SKU, or a specific SKU at a single retailer or store…the world (of retail analytics) should be your oyster. Settle on a tool with powerful filtering options that let you zoom way in and zoom way out on-demand.
10. Red Flags (i.e., Exception Reporting)
Your retail analytics tool should consistently and reliably bring time-sensitive problems and opportunities to your attention, i.e. exception reporting. The proficiency (or lack thereof) of a platform to say, “Hey, look here. This demands your attention right now!” is crucial, and you shouldn’t settle for less.
11. Resources, Training, & Support 
Too many Walmart vendors don’t realize this until it’s too late. When you buy retail analytics software, you also buy the support of the people behind it. Or at least the support and people that should be behind it but, unfortunately, sometimes aren’t. Before buying a solution, ensure resources are available to help your team learn and use the software. Even more importantly, make sure you’ll be supported by a team of analytics experts who can answer your questions and navigate you through occasional challenges.
We’ve entered the era of big data and powerful analytics, particularly at Walmart. It’s one paradigm-shift brands can’t afford to fall behind. It’s lead or be left.
Spotlight, the retail analytics solution from Nuqleous, was designed by brand professionals for brand professionals. Its combination of reliability, flexibility, security, granularity, and integrability, with its deep insights and powerful automation, makes Spotlight a popular choice among Walmart suppliers.
Looking for a single analytics solution that checks all the boxes? Meet Spotlight Retail Analytics.
