The need for sensors

In e-commerce, online retailers long ago discovered the value of in-depth shopper analytics. At first, they counted visitors as they entered the domain, and then again at checkout, where they gathered a wealth of shopper data.

Much like brick-and-mortar retailers have done for decades.

But, then, analytics grew to encompass shoppers’ ever more circuitous journeys, and new technologies like “trackers,” “web beacons” and “bugs” collected data around:

• Searches for products or other information
• Clicks on different areas of the website
• Interactions with online store personnel via chat

The result? Online merchants have utilized shopper insights to make data-driven decisions to continuously improve and optimize their websites over time.

Back at the brick-and-mortar store, retailers see similar shopper parallels with regards to their shopping journeys. And, just like with their online colleagues, there’s a wealth of valuable shopper data available between the front door and the checkout counter.