Are you still not doing data and insight collection at your POS? If not, I’m sorry to tell you, but you may be losing a big chunk of your valuable time and money. This may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn’t, and I’m about to show you why.

From the moment a customer walks into your store, they leave behind a huge trail of information through their behaviors, interactions, and reactions at the point of sale.

So a company that combines its POS with digital experiences can better understand the shopper journey and capture that massive trail of information to use it to drive new sales.

This way, brands and retailers can better understand consumer buying habits, identify the products and store areas that get the most traffic and attention, learn more about customer preferences, anticipate their needs and wants, create personalized offers, and more.

These are just a few of the many benefits your business misses out on when you don’t map data and insights at your POS.

But don’t worry, because if you’ve made it to this article, I’m sure you won’t leave without spotting some great opportunities for change.

Stick around to learn why collecting data at the POS matters, the difference between data and insights and how both can strengthen your strategy, the retail of the future, and the key technologies you can implement at your POS to take your sales strategies to new heights.

Let’s get started!

The difference between data and insights

Data and insights are two terms that are often confused, but they’re quite different from each other. In fact, even though they’re distinct, they complement each other in a solid Data-Driven strategy.

Put simply, data makes up the information needed to build deep, comprehensive insights. In other words, to get good insights, you need a lot of data.

Insights are extremely valuable because they provide the information you need to create a smart, strategic POS that delivers more results, both in sales volume and in experiences that spark the “WOW factor” in customers.

They’re also ideal for driving high organizational performance, since they provide the triggers for taking action to improve and evolve processes within a POS.

However, this information can’t be obtained without data—and data depends on good analysis to make the information truly useful and turn it into an insight.

That’s why one can’t live without the other. Without data, there are no insights, and without insights, there’s no way to make strategic decisions.

What does it mean to be Data-Driven?

Before we define Data-Driven, it’s worth knowing that no matter how brilliant your business idea is, if your future decisions aren’t based on data, the company won’t achieve lasting, sustainable success.

Now, back to the term: Data-Driven is a strategic concept that can be applied to any business model, especially when it comes to collecting data at the POS. Simply put, it’s data-driven management, meaning strategic decision-making based on data analysis and interpretation.

To be a Data-Driven company, you need to collect data, and keep in mind that without collecting data and insights to make better decisions at your POS, you’re falling short as a retailer in several ways.

• You’re not taking advantage of market opportunities;
• You’re ignoring your consumers’ key behaviors and interactions;
• You’re turning a blind eye to new developments and potential trends in your market;
• You don’t have access to market forecasts and future demand;
• You may be missing what’s right in front of you.

For this kind of POS data collection, digitalization solutions are essential, making it possible to store and access the data generated every day in brick-and-mortar stores.

Not to mention that they also transform the environment, making customer service more modern, convenient, and fast. In other words, they deliver impressive experiences for consumers.

Why using data and insights in your strategy matters

When Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland, he made famous the line the Cheshire Cat says to Alice: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there”.

Although Alice in Wonderland is just fiction—and perhaps our favorite one, as our name probably gives away—the cat’s line is as real as your need to collect data at your POS.

This line is actually a piece of advice that applies to every area of our personal and/or professional lives, so from here on, we’ll build on it a bit.

When you run your POS without the information you need to innovate, please consumers, and stand out in the market, you’re “shooting in the dark,” and your days in the market are numbered.

The data generated at the POS is like a guide that tells you where to go, which path is best to follow, and which strategy to use to stay hot in the market. Without POS data collection, you don’t know which path to take, so any road will do.

The future lies in delivering memorable experiences

Yes, the future lies in delivering memorable experiences, and that’s only possible by collecting data at the POS, which generates insights.

The future belongs to brands that truly care about their customers and, in their wisdom, listen and analyze data more than they talk. After all, your audience is your company’s most important asset, and if they don’t buy from you and you’re not on the same page, your business goes under.

In this case, the well-known saying “the voice of the people is the voice of God” rings true, since listening to customers and observing their behavior through POS data collection, in order to please them more and more, will become an increasingly common practice in the day-to-day operations of major retailers.

And since the future belongs to brands that deliver memorable experiences, the goal now is to delight the audience from their very first contact with the brand (during the learning and discovery stage) all the way to the final stages of purchase decision and loyalty.

The best way to do this is by improving your business strategy so you can make data-driven decisions.

It’s not exactly a simple task, but it’s a necessary one if you want your retail business and its results to be contagious. However, you won’t get those results without data collection.

What does the market usually use?

The market is always looking for new ways to solve problems that come up for customers and businesses alike. That’s actually quite common. Often, though, the solutions the market comes up with do solve the problem, but only part of it, not the problem as a whole.

When it comes to POS data collection, the main technologies used today by retailers and companies specializing in data are:

– Cameras;

– Foot traffic counters.

Both of these, as I said, do solve the problem, but only part of it.

Advantages of traditional market tools

The advantage these technologies offer is that cameras make it quite easy to collect data at the POS. This customer monitoring lets you see shoppers’ behavior and actions inside the POS.

The advantage of a foot traffic counter is that you can see which spots get the most traffic and, from there, figure out what is and isn’t working at your POS.

But this data is far too shallow to build a solid sales strategy for your POS, and the disadvantages of these technologies outweigh the advantages.

Disadvantages of traditional market tools

Besides solving only part of the problem and providing data too shallow to build a solid sales strategy, these commonly used technologies come with a few more disadvantages:

They’re expensive for retailers

Both technologies have high maintenance costs for POS data collection and, considering how few insights can be drawn from the shallow data they deliver, they’re definitely not worth it.

LGPD impacts video monitoring

Another factor that hinders these traditional technologies in POS data collection is Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD).

To use technologies like cameras at the POS, stores and brands must prove to auditors that they aren’t using any consumer’s image or face, for any purpose whatsoever. On top of that, consumers still need to trust and authorize the recording.

What Alice Wonders uses

Here at Alice Wonders, with the goal of delivering better results to our clients, gathering data that generates truly tangible and valuable insights, and bringing a new concept of effective, qualitative data generation to the market, we created our own data capture technology.

That technology is Granometrics.io, a way to reinvent POS data collection and generate insights and information that can boost sales, attract customers, delight them with great experiences, and take retailers to a whole new level.

Granometrcis.io is a multisensor platform that maps the physical store at a granular level and provides insights for decision-making and immediate action.

With Granometrics.io, you can measure consumer interest and view behavior maps by zone, category, and even by product.

That way, you’ll know everything that is and isn’t working at the POS, with valuable insights for immediate decision-making, putting you on the path to better results.

What sets Granometrics (multisensor) apart

• It offers the best cost-benefit ratio compared to other technologies;
• It’s a multisensor that doesn’t run into LGPD issues;
• It’s updated in real time (every hour);
• It offers desktop and mobile access for Trade Marketing teams (both managers and operators);
• It’s economical in cost, but not in efficiency;
• It creates opportunities to increase sales;
• It creates opportunities to increase your product’s average ticket;
• prevents disruptions;
• It anticipates market demand.

To see more Granometrics benefits, check out the product presentation by clicking HERE.

Case Studies

Now that you’ve seen how we collect data at the POS in an innovative and far more sustainable way, check out some of the success stories we have here at Alice Wonder with Granometrics.

Smart Store Intel

The Smart Store Intel was a case we developed for the Intel brand to collect data at the POS and help consumers choose the laptop that best suited their needs.

At the POS, inside the Extra hypermarket, we designed and delivered a new interactive space where shoppers could try out and explore every type of computer using screen mirroring, touch technology, and proximity sensors.

The smart table helped consumers find the perfect laptop.

“Answer simple questions on the touchscreen about how you use your computer, and based on your answers, you can find the ideal models at the push of a button.”

This was yet another Alice Wonders project that combined POS data collection + design + technology + architecture.

Smart Fitting Room and Interactive Mirror

Here are 2 cases we developed for POS data collection for fashion retail brands.

The first was the Wonder Fitting Room, which brought content and innovation to boost sales.

The Wonder Fitting Room is a smart fitting room that recognizes garments and suggests complementary looks and accessories, using content to drive more sales. The fitting room feeds a dashboard with data on the items tried on, generating powerful insights.

The other case we used was the Espelho Interativo + DATA (Interactive Mirror + DATA), which delivered real-time data and shopper engagement.

In addition to offering looks, accessories, and tutorials to the shopper, the Alice Wonders interactive mirror delivers real-time DATA to the retailer.

Both fashion retail technologies collected POS data in a very rich way, generating insights into which garments customers searched for and tried on most, as well as the highest-traffic aisles, walkways, and more. This data was extremely important for the brands to make strategic decisions that drove better results.

Beyond these 2 cases we selected, Granometrcis.io is a proven product validated by brands such as Intel, Fast Shop, Nestlé, Gafisa, MPD, and many others.

Conclusion

Collecting POS data is an essential strategy for retailers who want to stay at the top of the market.

Alice Wonders specializes in data capture and real-time insight generation. Data that truly delivers relevant information and drives results for your business.

If you’re interested in our technologies, get in touch with our customer service team. We’d love to learn more about how we can help you. See you soon.