Retail analytics is the use of data from sales, stock, customers and foot traffic to understand how a business is performing and what to do next. It ranges from simple daily sales reports to forecasting and machine learning.
Data is gathered from the POS, inventory system, people counters, ecommerce site and marketing tools, then combined in dashboards. Good analytics lets a manager see trends, compare stores and drill into the detail behind a number.
Retailers use it to decide what to stock, when to discount, how to roster staff and which marketing is paying off. Connecting online and in-store data gives a fuller picture of the customer.
The value comes from acting on the numbers. Start with a few measures that match business goals, make sure the data is clean and consistent, and review them regularly.