Retailer Data Drives Success for Retail RDs
By RDBA Executive Director, Annette Maggi, MS, RDN, LD, FAND
In last week’s article, The 5 Types of Data the Retail RD Needs to Understand, you learned about various data sets that retailers typically use to make decisions on assortment planning, merchandising sets, and targeted marketing efforts to key customers. Today’s article discusses how retail RDs can use these data to support health and wellbeing programs.
Who’s Who
The first step is to understand who manages these various data sets. POS and loyalty card data are most likely managed within your retailer, but it’s likely they are handled by different people or departments. It’s helpful to know as well how these staff ladder up to company leadership. Syndicated data is owned by a third-party organization. Some retailers have a staffer from one of these companies who has a desk at your corporate offices. As presented in this RDBA recorded webinar, dietitians can sometimes have direct access to syndicated data as a part of their retailer’s overall contract.
Seek to Understand
Once you’ve identified key data contacts, spend time understanding their world. Discuss standard reports they create for your retailer and how these can benefit the work you are doing. Understand how various data sets are or can be integrated. Probe on data gaps, future company directions as related to data integration, and how various departments use the data.
Partner in Problem Solving
It’s good to remember that retail RDs don’t need to do everything themselves and leveraging the expertise of others can help you more effectively achieve your goals. Once you understand data processes at your retailer, discuss how you are currently reporting ROI and these experts can improve the reporting through more detailed analysis or development of standardized reports. Brainstorm with these experts on how you can build programs that align with shopper insights in the data and support sales gaps for the company.
Leveraging the vast amount of data available to retailers can position RDs to build highly effective shopper solutions and ROI communications.
