Have you ever been asked to enter a negotiation or make a business decision without prior access to all the information you needed? It’s a frustrating and intimidating scenario that happens far too often in the business management process.
In fact, a late 2020 survey conducted by BlackLine found that 60% of C-level executives were not confident in their company’s financial data, with the majority of the nay-sayers citing manual spreadsheets and outdated processes as the key reasons why.
With all the confounding variables facing retailers today, particularly around the supply chain, real-time decisioning is more valuable than ever. Businesses that can quickly pivot prices, shipping partners or other strategies will be more profitable. After all, informed decisions are effective decisions.
So, what variables should you and your company be tracking? I recommend using automated dashboards and carefully constructed KPIs to see how each decision will reverberate in the external environment, the internal network, and within your company’s desired goals.
Scanning the Environment
Your business is impacted by so much more than your own decisions – it’s impacted by manufacturers, customer behavior, shortages, competitors, and more. It’s a lot to keep track of, but an automated process and appropriate data points will lead to the best results.
For example, an optimized pricing strategy is critical for success. If you’re offering the same item at a much higher price than your closest competitors, you likely won’t achieve your sales goals, whereas if a luxury brand decreases a price too much to match the market, the integrity of the brand identity may suffer.
Price is one of the top factors for shoppers today so accurately fitting your pricing strategy into the landscape is key. Automated dashboards, like gicom’s Real-time Margin capability can do this for you so you have access to live accounts of your competitors pricing strategies and can adjust accordingly before any potential business is lost.
You can also use dashboards to find out what product categories are most profitable, which are under pressure, and which may even require a renegotiation, so your assortment and your pricing are always optimized.
Evaluating Internal Processes
Next, you’ll need to know how your decisions will impact the company on a granular level. How much vendor funds are already consumed? What are my calculated claims and year-to-date accruals? Would a change in agreements and conditions improve prices for your customers? Keeping track of these factors will be critical for success.
Like I said before, many C-level executives are worried that their financial data is not up to date going into a big decision. With gicom, we integrate the results of your big decisions, like deal calculation, and settlements, into your existing financial processes automatically. With our many years of expertise in the retail and consumer goods industry, we know exactly how to optimize your view of your margin and liquidity data, leaving no room for confusion.
Working Towards Your Goals
At the end of the day, each business has its own unique goals. Sure, everyone wants their store to be profitable, but each retail executive has a different view of success. That’s why internal teams must be crystal clear on all KPIs, and the agreed upon values should be denoted within all dashboards. This way, every decision is made with an accurate understanding of how it will impact goals and KPIs.
With gicom’s reporting tools, we showcase relevant KPIs and highlight possibilities for improving your strategy. And even after implementation, we support you by continuously reviewing the objectives of your strategy and adjusting it collaboratively.
Gathering All the Information
Data is the heart of every business decision. We at gicom can show you how to build and structure your data on relevant dashboards to achieve maximum transparency across negotiations and decisioning.
To learn more about gicom’s offerings or discuss how up-to-date dashboards can help you meet your desired KPIs, send me a message or contact gicom today!
By Stefan Hilger
Published on LinkedIn: The Key to Success is Accurate and Comprehensive Reporting | LinkedIn