Offering an in-depth insight into shoppers’ complex motivations, Big Data has become an unquestionable attribute of modern retail. But while data crunching has its obvious perks, listening to what your in-store workforce has to say is of even greater value.

Plus, it saves you money. Companies spend months, if not years, on costly tests only to find out what their shop assistants could tell them for free. Of course, loose observations made by the wait staff may not seem sufficiently reliable to drive any serious strategic choices. But with a robust process for collecting observations and insights in place, these firms could easily save themselves time and money in lost sales and expensive research.

Human factor

This is where Big Sensing comes in. An offshoot of the mighty Big Data, this process relies on human observation and intuition. Briefly, human input directs analytics and analysis. Big Sensing is about eliciting and gathering unfiltered observations and hypotheses straight from the front line staff. The process, which does not consume much time, allows management to develop both short and long-term strategies to test.

How does it work?

Held on a monthly basis, 15-minute long standing workshops are at the heart of the process. They enable the wait staff to share their observations and comments on any recent changes among in-store customers. Special emphasis is placed on the same observations made by several persons. Possible changes most often are manifested in either an increase or a drop in some activity, e.g. foot traffic. It makes sense to probe further in case of shared observations by asking the staff about their opinions. Finding out from them why certain things have changed could provide you with useful hypotheses.

Most importantly, Big Sensing helps store owners scale up and compare qualitative insight in a fast manner as well as generates more value from your workforce.

Source: http://www.psfk.com/