25 March 2021, New York: Kantar estimates that online retail in the USA grew 36.8% to $476 billion in 2020 representing 18.3% of all retail sales. Looking forward to 2025, Kantar estimates that online sales will grow at a CAGR of 12.1% reaching almost $850 billion, or 26.4% of all retail. To help brands capitalize on the massive shift in retail dynamics and prioritize which products to range in different online channels, Kantar today launches RichMix eAssort.
RichMix is Kantar’s industry leading assortment optimization tool that uses transferable demand curves to measure the incremental impact of changing the items and facings in a retailer’s mix to maximize growth. eAssort, the newest offering from the RichMix team, uses machine learning-based predictive modeling to derive a granular view of which products and tactics will achieve the greatest growth in the ecommerce environment. It analyzes a range of data including daily or weekly SKU-level sales, margin and returns data in combination with digital shelf data, website traffic, reviews and ratings, organic and paid search performance, price and promotions. It then provides forecast category assortment & brand portfolio insights: segment & SKU prioritization and rationalization opportunities, SKU investment scenarios (e.g., search, promo), seasonal planning and ‘white space’ assessment.
Christina Anderson, Senior Director of Product for Digital Retail Innovation commented: “Today’s launch strengthens our portfolio in the assortment and space optimization SaaS market. Already in the US, we manage around $180 billion per year in category assortment planning for more than 40 tier-one US brands. Clients are already partnering with us to reevaluate their portfolio strategies on Amazon and other ecommerce platforms.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic made the strong stronger, and also revived some traditional supermarkets that were fading. Post-pandemic we expect bigger players to use their stockpiled cash to invest in their store and online capabilities. As important as omnichannel strategies have been over the past year, they will become increasingly important over the next decade. This, combined with emerging complexities like ‘boundless commerce’ and ‘social IQ’, means the opportunity to getting portfolio and ranging strategies right are ever fewer. Our application of machine learning to identify key relationships in investment variables offers a new level of insights for product planners to ensure they maximize their growth potential in the ecommerce world.”
Richmix eAssort is available at https://www.kantar.com/north-america/campaigns/online-assortment-optimization from March 26 across the USA.