Customer demand is becoming more unpredictable by the minute, putting retailers on the defensive as they try to understand how to optimize their product merchandise offering, services and experiences. In today’s world, to get the supply and demand equation right, retailers must generate as much data as possible from product testing.

“They need to rely on data to anticipate as opposed to react,” said Greg Petro, CEO and founder of First Insight. “The winners will anticipate. And the anticipation is the challenge. You can’t rest on a historical data point at this stage or leverage intuition to a large degree. It does not make sense economically any further.”

First Insight, a technology provider that helps retailers and brands use “voice of the customer” feedback to improve product design, pricing, planning, merchandising and marketing, has dealt firsthand with customer data across the apparel and footwear spectrum, with customers ranging from Wolverine Worldwide to rue21 to Marks & Spencer and Kohl’s, alongside a collection of other consumer products brands, mass merchant retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers. So it knows the challenges that brands face in getting the right products to the right consumers at the right time.

and Watch the Video Interview at Sourcing Journal