Accenture's research reinforces the fact that the retail industry is still a long way from operating on a customer-centric strategy (High street problems send shoppers to the web).

Holistic customer profiling and behavioural targeting need to become a key priority if store visitor numbers are to be improved. By having the technological capability to understand what is driving customers in terms of preferences and behaviours, retailers will be able to cater their in-store offerings a lot more effectively.

Retailers such as Waitrose are using forecasting and merchandising software to ensure quality service is being delivered to their customer base. More stores need to use this type of actionable insight to improve the in-store experience. There is no excuse for retailers that are under-delivering in terms of customer service and stock availability. Continuing down this route will result in damaging the customer experience and destroying brand loyalty.

Jason Goodwin, SAS UK