Social media mentions and other measures of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s online reach flash in real time on a dashboard inside the office of Matt Kistler, senior vice president for the retailer's Global Customer Insights team.
Those nearly to-the-second updates, valuable for strategic planning in a number of areas, can be fascinating to watch. The data can be so mesmerizing for guests, in fact, meetings are best held outside his office, Kistler said.
"It's a tremendous source of information we use to dig into what people are saying about Wal-Mart, the products they want, the services they want to look for and other opportunities we have to make the shopping experience for them better," Kistler said during a recent presentation to suppliers at the Wal-Mart home office. "It's a cool tool. It's playing in my office all the time. It's kind of eye candy. I find people watching the board instead of listening to me."
Data collected by Wal-Mart and analyzed through its Global Customer Insights division is of interest to many people inside and outside the world's largest retailer.
Information analyzed ranges from social media posts to shopping habits and demographics. Simply having petabytes -- a single petabyte is 1 million gigabytes -- of information isn't enough for Wal-Mart to be effective, though. It has to mine the data for insights that can be valuable to company leaders, suppliers and others, he said.
Wal-Mart is able to use the data to gauge, almost instantly, how customers are feeling about the retailer or products. Competitors are tracked. A host of business metrics are also collected and analyzed. During a recent open call for products, Kistler walked suppliers through some of the statistics Wal-Mart has collected:
• Online sales of consumer packaged goods -- or items people use every day -- are up 40 percent this year compared to last year.
• Consumers are spending 10 hours per day on some type of screen, including smartphones, tablets and televisions.
• Nearly 80 percent of children between the ages of 12-17 now have smartphones.
• That same generation will be the most multicultural generation in the history of the U.S.
Monster Moto, a Ruston, La.-based company that specializes in motorized vehicles for kids, was among the 800 vendors that made pitches to Wal-Mart earlier this month. CEO Alex Keechle said there are many reasons that working with Wal-Mart appealed to him, and the information Wal-Mart continually collects and analyzes on consumers was a big plus.
"One could argue they're a data and logistics company masquerading as a retailer," Keechle said of Wal-Mart. "They have more big data than anyone out there. I love that because they'll share that with you and allow you to craft your product and your strategies better."
While Wal-Mart does share some sales and inventory data with its suppliers through an online resource called Retail Link, some vendors say they would like to see more.
Pita Pal Foods began selling to Wal-Mart about 18 months ago. Owner Melissa Navon said the retailer does make point-of-sale data available, but additional information and analysis could be a big help to product development, supply chain management and other key areas.
"I think it could be a game changer," Navon said. "No other one customer of ours is actively doing that. If Wal-Mart could actively empower the manufacturers with their knowledge of customer perception, demographics and that sort of information, then suppliers could really make the shopping experience better for customers in the stores."
Navon expressed her desire to see more data during Kistler's presentation. Kistler told suppliers that he "made no promises" but did say the retailer is "doing all we can to move faster."
Wal-Mart does see the information as key to connecting with customers and making their experiences better, Kistler said. He mentioned the upcoming launch of Retail Link 2.0 as one way the retailer might satisfy the desire for suppliers to have access to more information.
Collecting and analyzing data is important to the retailer because it gives Wal-Mart a better understanding of who it is serving.
"There is only one boss: It's the customer. It's our goal to connect more with the customer every day," Kistler said. "That's what will make us a better company. We want to increase trust, our customer advocacy and loyalty."
SundayMonday Business on 07/20/2015