Putting analytics into action

The subject line of the latest Banana Republic email practically screamed in my face: Today only! Save 25% after 5 PM!

Now, I’m not really sure if this is a great deal or not but I do know this is a great effort to turn bad stats into something worth bragging about.

It doesn’t say it anywhere in the email, but I’m guessing Banana Republic sales lag sometime near supper. Someone must have seen it in the receipts and web analytics and saw an opportunity to do better.

The strategy is to increase evening sales online and in-store. The tactic is to make a coupon available during those hours to make merchandise more appealing during those hours.

Whether or not the tactic works is almost irrelevant. They’ve already identified the issue they want to solve and have the strategy to back it up. Now it’s off to the lab to see what makes it happen.