Lucy and Yak plan data-driven retail expansion with MRI OnLocation
British clothing brand Lucy and Yak are known for their ethically and sustainably made clothing, particularly their brightly coloured dungarees.
As a forward-thinking company, Lucy and Yak is keen to leverage technology and data to grow their business across all channels, including the recent integration of AI size recommendation technology True Fit to more than double its online conversion rate amongst customers using the new tech. Alongside success in their innovations online, the team was keen to understand how a similar data-driven approach could be used to improve in-store performance.
Situation
Over the past two years, Lucy and Yak has added a rapidly growing chain of retail stores to complement its digital presence, with recent store openings in Bristol, Exeter, Manchester and Cambridge.
With many of their growing portfolio of stores now reaching the point where a decision needs to be made on whether to commit to longer-term leases or invoke break clauses, the team needed to capture as much data as possible to inform their growth strategy.
“Footfall and conversion rates is the single most important KPI for Lucy & Yak right now, as it’s a really good indicator on whether we’re doing a good job or not. We need the data so we can reaffirm what we think is happening within our stores or make decisions based on what we see happening.”
Ginny Yang | Head of Retail at Lucy & Yak
Tracking footfall and capture rate with MRI OnLocation
Lucy and Yak chose MRI OnLocation to provide data on footfall across their retail locations nationwide. By tracking outside footfall flow as well as entrances to their stores, the team are able to monitor “capture rate” to assess both the footfall around store locations and the suitability of the areas themselves for the brand.
The team also combine footfall metrics with their own store-level reporting and transaction data to understand how footfall and capture rate influence conversion and average transaction value on a store-by-store basis. This data is circulated via weekly trade dashboards and has recently been rolled out to store teams themselves as well.
Contextualising business metrics
With MRI OnLocation able to track passing footfall and in-store traffic, the retail team at Lucy and Yak are able to use footfall data to gain a deeper understanding of the factors influencing store performance.
“Having no visibility is just a bit of a stab in the dark”, explained Ginny Yang, Head of Retail at Lucy and Yak. “You’re guessing – it feels busier, and it feels quieter. Now people can actually know what their conversion is, know what their capture rate is, and do something about it.”
With footfall integrated into weekly trade reporting alongside store sales, Lucy and Yak have a more nuanced understanding of how their teams are performing. By analysing capture rate, they can understand how effective shop window displays are at attracting passing trade into stores, while looking at conversion rate in the context of footfall can help provide vital context to sales data by making it possible to track in-store conversion.
“It just steers us in the right direction of where we’re going to go. Is this the right place? We’ve got a mixture right now; quirky locations, funky locations, high street. How do they compare?”
Ginny Yang, Head of Retail, Lucy and Yak
Informing strategic decisions
In the longer term, Lucy and Yak expect the footfall data provided by MRI OnLocation to form a crucial part of their strategic decision-making process.
As footfall data begins to be shared in-store, the team plans to use trending data to inform staffing levels, as well as to provide insights to support with the planning of events and other in-store marketing activities.
The team also see MRI OnLocation as critical to their retail expansion strategy. With a clear picture of both footfall and capture rate, they can identify whether store performance is the result of factors which can be improved, or whether a change of location is necessary. If footfall is low but conversion is high, for example, this can support the decision to remain in a particular area but seek out a location with more passing trade, or alternatively to renegotiate lease rates to a level that’s more sustainable for the store.
“It’s good to have the leverage of having the data because otherwise it’s one person’s word against another,” explained Ginny Yang. “Some centres have their own footfall counters, and it might be a disadvantage if you have no clue. It’s imperative now because it is competitive, and you need to have good solid reasons when you’re negotiating the rates with your centre management.”