The Sally Beauty Supply and Beauty Systems Group businesses implemented an analytics solution from Profitect at the start of the year. Essentially the company is looking to improve business with the internal and external sales data its gathering.
“Cosmetologists and beauty enthusiasts rely on our expertise to provide the highest-quality beauty products on the market, and Profitect’s prescriptive analytics solution allows us to deliver on this commitment through its unique patterns and action-driven insight,” said Mike Povendo, vice president of loss prevention and safety at Sally Beauty Supply, when the partnership was announced.
Off to a good start
The initial implementation took two weeks and early indications are that software is delivering on its promise. “Sally Beauty Supply recognized the value of prescriptive analytics and is now leading the pack as a top retailer realizing the benefits of this transformative technology,” explained Guy Yehiav, CEO of Profitect, in the January press release about the partnership. “Being able to assist in an IT and operations ‘makeover’ was a success for both the Sally Beauty Supply team and ours.”
Prescriptive analytic solutions don’t simply return data or reports that need to be interpreted, they prescribe actions that could mitigate or eliminate issues shown in the data. With the new software, Sally Beauty gets data within 24 or 48 hours of its being collected, and emails with readymade solutions go directly to the managers that can carry them out, according to Povendo, who recently spoke with Judith Aquino of 1to1media.com.
Data in action
The software can, for instance, bring upselling opportunities to managers’ attention. Povendo shared a sales-side example with Aquino: “…a customer came into the store to buy hair dye. There are other products that can go along with the dye like gloves, swabs, or a spray bottle. But not all our associates were selling those products along with the hair dye.”
This data was captured by the software, and it prescribed a response. “Some of our managers received an email about those single item transactions with the recommendation that they retrain their associates. The managers quickly acted upon that [insight], and are helping associates engage customers in more conversations about the benefits of our other products,” Povendo told the press.