Maroš Šefčovič said the union stands ready to work in an “open and constructive way” with Britain following a statement from the new UK Prime Minister on the prospect of a negotiated settlement on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

It comes as the UK and EU have been embroiled in a row over Britain’s proposals to override parts of the controversial post-Brexit treaty, as it seeks to reduce trade barriers with the region.

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Formerly known as Glimpse, VisionR provides retailers with insights from the shop floor by aggregating previously inaccessible data to personalise the shopping experience and drive sales.

The company’s Scout technology uses computer vision and machine learning to transform real-world shopper experiences into online data that retailers can access through VisionR’s App.

The Scout breaks shoppers down anonymously into footfall, shopping groups, shopper profile, shop duration, product engagement, penetration, and spend. Using this information, it is claimed that retailers can then make the same informed decisions about marketing, sales, and operations, as they can online, maximising revenues.

“We give retailers a uniform view of their online and offline shoppers, a complete connected shopper journey, all without storing any personally identifiable data,” said VisionR Co-founder, Shane O’Sullivan.

SPAR internationally has been focused on utilising shopper insights to unlock new opportunities instore and improve the shopping experience.

In select Irish stores, SPAR retailers could perform actions using VisionR data at the promotional shelf-ends that yielded positive results. This is said to have caught the attention of SPAR International, which works with over 105 regional retail organisations.

“Through our partnership with SPAR International, we [VisionR] are able to support SPAR organisations across 48 countries by providing revenue generating data,” said VisionR Co-founder, Oran Mulvey.

VisionR has recently completed a €1.5m investment round, led by Delta Partners, backed by Bank of Ireland, to provide insights to any retailer with physical premises, from grocery to convenience to fashion.

Dermot Berkery of Delta Partners commented: “Physical retailers have been starved of insights to their customers. That makes it incredibly hard for them to compete against online retailers that have voluminous data and rich insights.

“What excited us at Delta about what Oran and Shane are doing is the promise of levelling the playing field for physical retailers. Their technology is simple to adopt and gives insights right out of the box, all while staying within the important bounds set down by privacy requirements such as GDPR.”

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Going shopping should be a relaxing and enjoyable experience for the customer – as increasing numbers are swapping brick and mortar stores for mobile apps instead. How much does this impact  the overall shopping experience?

Heady surveyed 400 consumers, asking them all about their experiences using mobile apps to shop until they drop. Many of us prefer to make an informed decision before parting with our hard earned cash. 61% of those surveyed agreed, saying that they use mobile apps to read product information and reviews.

This is also translated into finding out more about the product they buy, as 60% said they like to look at the product photo and content on their mobile apps. However, the overwhelming majority use mobile apps with the intent to buy new things. 74% of respondents said that this was the most-used feature of their app usage.

Staying logged in, increased functionality of apps and preferred payment methods all increase the convenience of mobile shopping. And 57.5% of consumers surveyed would agree, saying that mobile apps are simply more convenient for shopping, than any other channel.

Turn offs

The results highlighted the turn-offs for consumers when using mobile apps to shop. Poor organization would be a consumer’s number one reason to leave a negative review with 44% saying so, followed by apps that don’t save data between sessions (35%).

38% also complained about screens being too small for shopping, with men making up the majority of these complaints. 54% said they don’t like not being able to feel the product, with women saying this the most. Other complaints include, not enough product information (35%), clunky user interface (23%), and not trusting the app to complete their purchases (22%).

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Costcutter Supermarkets Group (CSG) has announced a partnership with data experts Data Revolution, part of the Talysis Group, that will enable the symbol group to provide independent retailers with vital insights. It will be  powered by predictive analytics, on shopper trends, pricing, range and promotions, to help them manage costs and maximise sales.

Data Revolution

Working in partnership with Big Data management experts Data Revolution, CSG began a trial of a predictive analytics portal across 100 independent stores in the South of England late last year. Following the success with trial stores the partnership will seek to support more retailers across the symbol groups estate.

David Morris, CSG IT Director, said: “Our trials, initially in stores who operate our CPOS system, took place before the COVID crisis and the results were outstanding, with retailers reporting increased sales, improved margins and achieving higher rebates, as a direct result of the data they could access.

Outstanding results

“We’ve used the lockdown period to focus on analysing those results and refining the offer, to give our retailers the best possible insights and advice. Predicting what will be their best selling lines, what ranges they can look to rationalise, what promotions deliver the best results and what ordering and pricing decisions will maximise their sales and help manage costs. A dedicated portal will be introduced to retailers through their BDM in future, who will provide detailed guidance and recommendations to optimise the benefits.

“It will add projected performance data on shopper behaviour to the rich insights we already provide retailers on their customers, through our Shopper First programme. Retailers will be able to access segmented data, tailored to their store type, location and demographics.”

Operational efficiencies

Ed Roberts, Managing Director at Data Revolution, said: “We have worked with CSG for over 15 months, giving them data and insights to guide operational efficiencies and optimise retail opportunities. We’re delighted with the trial results for our predictive analytics portal and look forward to sharing the benefits with all Costcutter retailers as the programme rolls out.”

Plans for CSG’s predictive analytics portal will see each retailer provided with all their relevant data, actionable insights and recommendations in one place. Data will be refreshed and updated weekly and will enable the Group’s BDM and field-based teams to provide additional expert guidance to each store owner based on the data.

Next level predictive analytics

Dave Morris added: “We’re taking our data and insights focus to the next level using predictive analytics to further support our retailers in delivering the right offer and range for their shoppers.

“Reaping the rewards of the expertise and agility of the Data Revolution team in AI-enabled analysis and their extensive experience in retail, we will be generating tangible insights which our trading and marketing teams can use to help retailers continue to grow footfall and sales, delivering on our mission to be the best loved and most shopped symbol group.”

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Ulster Bank PMI data from August signalled a loss of growth momentum in the Northern Ireland private sector,  with new orders rising at the weakest pace in four months.

Although output and new orders continued to rise solidly, the data – which is produced for Ulster Bank by IHS Markit – showed rates of expansion were weaker than recorded in July.

Commenting on the latest survey findings, Richard Ramsey, chief economist Northern Ireland, Ulster Bank, said:

“We’ve perhaps never seen a year when the weather has played such a big role in the Northern Ireland economy. In the early part of 2018, the Beast from the East disrupted business activity, therefore impacting on output.”

“More recently, the incredibly good weather has been cited as a major factor behind faster rates of growth in the private sector during June and July. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the milder weather, August saw something of a slowdown.”

That said, the rate of job creation picked up, as did business confidence. Inflation of both input costs and output prices eased, but remained elevated.

What does this mean?

“Output and new orders growth both eased to a four-month low in August, whilst export orders saw the weakest rate in 10 months, albeit that it was the 26th successive month of growth,” said Richard.

“Employment fared slightly better, with a modest pick-up in growth from July’s 12-month low. Meanwhile, inflationary pressures eased, according to local firms, but it is worth noting that they remain more marked in Northern Ireland than in any other UK region.”

The headline seasonally adjusted Business Activity Index fell to 53.9 in August from 56.6 in July. The rate of growth was solid and output has now risen in Northern Ireland in each of the past 23 months, but the latest month signalled the weakest expansion since April.

The increase in output in Northern Ireland was also slower than the UK average. All four monitored sectors saw activity rise, although manufacturing was the only one to record a faster rate of expansion than in July.

Concluding, Richard stated: “During the next few months, it will become clearer if the latest slowdown is simply related to an easing back from June and July’s weather-related high, or if this is evidence of an underlying weakness emerging.”

“The fact that construction firms expect activity to fall over the next 12 months, suggests that they think it may be the latter.”

Further PMI material including a chart pack, podcast and infographics are available at www.ulstereconomix.com

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