insideKENT Magazine Issue 63 - June 2017 | Page 187

BUSINESS
MI-5 RETAILING
BY MARC FARMER, PARTNER AT WILKINS KENNEDY MAIDSTONE
INFORMATION IS KEY IN BUSINESS, BUT FOR RETAILERS IN
PARTICULAR, JUGGLING FORECASTS AND PREDICTIONS FOR STOCK
LEVELS IS A REGULAR OCCURRENCE – ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE
TO TAKE THE WEATHER INTO ACCOUNT AS WELL.
Management Information, or MI, is used in
business to help analyse and monitor trends
and enable informed decision making. These
trends can be in customer behaviour, spend,
economy and so on, but they may be used by
retailers to help effectively forecast stock
ordering and availability. This becomes even
more important during any major retail events,
such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter
and Christmas, but also for Cyber Monday and
Black Friday.
Then there’s planning for the unexpected –
a tricky enough task in itself. But, if you can
draw upon previous data, enough to allow
you to make decisions and contingency plans
in the event of bad weather, for example, then
this should be your first port of call.
Occurrences like this must be planned well in
advance, often up to a year before the event
takes place. MI is key to deciphering what it
is retailers will need ahead of time – almost
like a crystal ball. In other words, you need to
be able to look into the future to decide what
to stock in the present. It will also allow you to manage relationships
with suppliers in the event that you might
suddenly need more stock. It is not just bad
weather that can cause changes in supply
chain needs, but warm weather also brings
with it a number of demands. For example,
will your customers suddenly want to buy
more summer clothing? Perhaps they will
want to buy more cold drinks or cold foods?
These sorts of things need to be considered
in line with Management Information and the
data that is available within.
A VICIOUS CIRCLE FOCUS YOUR MARKETING BY USING MI
No problem, you might think – we are ready
to trade – we’ll use gut feel to forecast our
stock and marketing spend rather than invest
in MI. The software and professional advice
needed to produce and interpret MI can seem
pricey; indeed, the MI investment may seem
like one that early stage retailers cannot afford.
The thing is, can you afford to make decisions
without decent MI? Without MI and
professional advice, you will be using
guesswork. Management Information can also be used
for effective marketing. In the early stages of
your business, you are likely to be marketing
your business to a volume audience through
blanket messaging. In the early days, this may
seem fine, but you need to ensure that
eventually you identify your specific targets
so that you can focus your messaging.
But think about this – if you invest in MI you
can, as one indicator, look at your website
conversion rates and measure interest in the
product portfolio. Monitor customer buying
patterns and direct your marketing spend
accordingly. This will provide you with
relevant sales data and help your decision
making; and why? Because you are using MI.
If you would like any further advice or support
relating to your retail business, particularly MI,
why not contact your local Wilkins Kennedy
representative in the Ashford, Canterbury,
Maidstone, Orpington and Sandwich offices
to see how we can help.
Local offices:
Ashford: 01233 629 255 / Canterbury: 01227 454 861
Maid stone: 01622 690 666 / Orpington: 01689 827 505
Sandwich: 01304 249 997
www.wilkinskennedy.com
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