Style and Statistics: The Art of Retail Analytics

A non-technical guide to leveraging retail analytics for personal and competitive advantage

Style and Statistics is a real-world guide to analytics in retail. Written specifically for the non-IT crowd, this book explains analytics in an approachable, understandable way, and provides examples of direct application to retail merchandise management, marketing, and operations. The discussion covers current industry trends and emerging-standard processes, and illustrates how analytics is providing new solutions to perennial retail problems. You'll learn how to leverage the benefits of analytics to boost your personal career, and how to interpret data in a way that's useful to the average end business user or shopper. Key concepts are detailed in easy-to-understand language, and numerous examples highlight the growing importance of understanding analytics in the retail environment.

The power of analytics has become apparent across industries, but it's left an especially indelible mark on retail. It's a complex topic, but you don't need to be a data scientist to take advantage of the opportunities it brings. This book shows you what you need to know, and how to put analytics to work with retail-specific applications.

• Learn how analytics can help you be better at your job
• Dig deeper into the customer's needs, wants, and dreams
• Streamline merchandise management, pricing, marketing, and more
• Find solutions for inefficiencies and inaccuracies

As the retail customer evolves, so must the retail industry. The retail landscape not only includes in-store but also website, mobile site, mobile apps, and social media. With more and more competition emerging on all sides, retailers need to use every tool at their disposal to create value and gain a competitive advantage. Analytics offers a number of ways to make your company stand out, whether it's through improved operations, customer experience, or any of the other myriad factors that build a great place to shop. Style and Statistics provides an analytics primer with a practical bent, specifically for the retail industry.

About the Author

Brittany Bullard is a Solutions & Analytical Consultant in the Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods Practice at SAS Institute. Bullard focuses on retailers’ strategic problems and identifies the challenges they face in an evolving industry. Her role allows her to apply her knowledge of advanced analytics to solve the most pressing issues and position SAS’s customers for success.

Bullard brings to her team a decade of experience in the retail industry, and a fresh millennial perspective on the customer and user experience. Versed in retail forecasting and omnichannel analytics, she serves as a member of the Strategic Retail Analytics team at SAS and on the Global Retail Community of Industry Leaders as the representative for the United States.

Originally a chemistry and math fiend, Bullard found the application of analytics in retail a perfect union of her strengths and passions. She now works to educate others on how they can drive innovation and develop professionally by leveraging the power of analytics.

Prior to joining SAS, Bullard acted as the Manager of Forecasting, Allocation, and Replenishment at Beall’s Inc. Her leadership of the implementation and management of retail analytics at Beall’s connected Bullard to the SAS Retail team. Bullard collaborates on the design of the retail-focused solutions and the SAS Assortment Management portfolio, which was recognized as a Leader in the Forester Wave in 2014 and the Gartner Magic Quadrant in 2014, 2015, and 2016.