Department stores and retail chains alike rely on big data to better understand consumer-buying behavior and move more merchandise. But when those retailers discount particular items too early—or introduce them for less than the agreed-upon price—it can create problems for brands, especially in the luxury market.
“On the one hand, luxury brands want to retain their prestige and don’t want people to see their products discounted before the time is right. It sends the wrong message. But more substantially, when retailers discount early or underprice products, brands see a decrease in sales at their own stores and in their channel.”
That’s according to the team at Edited, a U.K.-based retail technology firm that works with Saks Fifth Avenue, Asos and Arcadia, among others, to help them make better business decisions and know their markets in real-time.
This is why the company recently introduced Product Finder, a tool that took two years to develop and finds and displays the entire pricing and discounting histories of millions of items worldwide.
Using more than more than 77 billion data points comprising 280 million-plus SKUs at 90,000 brands worldwide, the tool allows brands to see how their wholesale contracts are being honored and helps ensure a level playing field.
“We got the idea from listening to our user’s stories about how they wasted huge amounts of time on Google trying to figure out who was stocking what and where. So one part of the idea was just to give them a better way to find that information right inside Edited, where they were already spending their time,” the company said, noting that the feature is available at no extra cost to everyone with an existing Edited login. “The other part of the idea was to give them more information than they could ever find with Google.”
So, for instance, if Google finds a product, it will only display the current price—or if the item is sold out it won’t find it at all—whereas Product Finder will show the full price history, starting from the day the product came online.
“The first and most immediate effect is that brands will be able to monitor the prices of their products at wholesalers in one place and do it efficiently,” Edited said, adding, “With Product Finder they can control their own products better in the marketplace and react quickly when they find inconsistencies.”