Tenth Annual ShopperTrak Users Group Conference Reveals That Understanding Shopping And Buyer Behavior Is The Top Challenge For Retailers

Technology Adoption, In-Store Challenges and an Early Focus on Holiday Season Were Key Focus Areas Among Attendees

ShopperTrak, the leading global provider of consumer behavior insights and location-based analytics, held its tenth annual Users Group Conference in Chicago June 3-5th. The event brought together nearly 200 retailers, executives, financial analysts, industry analysts and university academics to explore the topic of “Next Generation Retail Analytics.”

“We were honored and thrilled to have so many of our customers and prospects join us for an educational, collaborative and, of course, fun three days in Chicago,” said Russell Evans, vice president of global marketing at ShopperTrak. “Based on the feedback we received and research we collected, retail challenges, opportunities and expectations continue to evolve alongside disruptive changes in technology.”

In addition to breakout sessions, a keynote address from branding expert Peter Shankman and lively discussions, attendees were polled on a variety of different perspectives and issues. Retailers revealed the following:

• Conversion trumps all other measurements - Seventy-nine percent of attendees report that conversion rate is the most important metric to their company. This was followed by traffic (17.5 percent) and units per transaction (3.5 percent).
• Understanding shopping and buying behavior tops list of challenges  - Forty-four percent of attendees reported that understanding consumer behavior in-store is currently their biggest challenge. This was followed by using big data to make business decisions (25 percent), omni-channel pressure (17 percent), staying up to date on the latest technologies (12 percent), and merchandising and store design (2 percent).
• Holiday measurement preparation has begun - Sixty-four percent of attendees said they have started or plan to implement in-store analytics programs for holiday 2014. More than one-third (36 percent) have not yet implemented in-store analytics programs to prepare for holiday 2014.
• When it comes to in-store analytics technology, retailers are more familiar with some technologies than others:
  • Sixty-six percent are very or somewhat familiar with BLE/iBeacon, while 84 percent are very or somewhat familiar with BlueTooth.
  • Thirty-nine percent are very unfamiliar or not familiar with mobile wallet. On the flip side, 57 percent are very or somewhat familiar with mobile wallet.
  • Forty percent are very likely to implement BLE/iBeacon, BlueTooth, Wifi in the next 12 months.
  • Five percent have implemented these technologies already.

About ShopperTrak
ShopperTrak is the leading global provider of shopper insights and analytics to improve retail profitability and effectiveness. Retailers rely on ShopperTrak for the most comprehensive and integrated solution for accurate retail store traffic counting, interior analytics and industry benchmarking to better understand in-store shopper behavior. More than 1,000 of the world’s leading retail brands have ShopperTrak services deployed in over 70,000 locations across 90 countries and territories. The Chicago-based company has more than 200 employees, with offices in San Francisco; High Wycombe, England; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Shenzhen, China; and Helsinki, Finland. For more information, visit http://www.shoppertrak.com.