6 ways to enhance your ecommerce store with BI reporting tools

Ecommerce has quickly become the go-to platform for businesses of all sizes. And it’s not hard to see why. With ecommerce, businesses have access to a global market, 24/7 operation hours, and low overhead costs.

With only an idea and an internet connection, you can start and build a successful ecommerce business. In fact, over 90% of businesses today use ecommerce in some capacity.

If you’re running an ecommerce store, it’s important to understand that simply having an online presence is not enough to guarantee success. To compete in today’s ecommerce market, you need to be using data analytics to drive your decisions. This is where BI reporting tools come in.

Business intelligence (BI) reporting tools are designed to help you collect, organize, and analyze data so you can make better business decisions. When used correctly, BI tools can provide valuable insights that can help you improve your ecommerce store in a number of ways.

What are reporting tools and how can they help your ecommerce store?

Reporting tools are software applications that help you collect, organize, and analyze data. They can come in the form of desktop applications, web-based solutions, or even mobile apps.

The most effective reporting tools will offer a variety of features that make it easy to get the insights you need to improve your ecommerce store. Some of the features to look for in a reporting tool include:

• Data visualization: The ability to view data in a variety of formats, including charts, graphs, and maps.
• Data export: The ability to export data into a format that can be used in other applications.
• Data filtering: The ability to filter data so you can see only the information that is relevant to your needs.
• Data mining: The ability to mine data from a variety of sources, including social media, website logs, and customer surveys.
• Scheduled reports: The ability to generate reports on a regular basis so you can stay up-to-date on your ecommerce store’s performance.

When you find a product that truly meets your needs, you’ll be able to get the insights you need to take your ecommerce store to the next level.

Now that we’ve covered what reporting tools are and how they can help your ecommerce store, let’s take a look at six specific ways they can enhance your business.

6 ways to enhance your ecommerce store with BI reporting tools

1. Understand your customers

One of the most important things you can do to improve your ecommerce store is to understand your customers.

Who are they? What do they want? What do they need? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you make better decisions about the products you sell, the prices you charge, and the way you market your business.

Fortunately, BI reporting tools can help you get a better understanding of your customers. With the right tool, you can collect data from a variety of sources, including social media, website logs, and customer surveys. This data can then be filtered and analyzed to help you understand your customers better.

For example, you might use BI reporting tools to find out:

• The demographics of your customer base
• The products that are most popular with your customers
• The channels that generate the most sales
• The areas where your customers are most satisfied (and dissatisfied) with your business

This type of information is invaluable when it comes to improving your ecommerce store. Having this deeper understanding of your customers will help you be able to make better decisions about how you run your business.

2. Analyze your products

In order to sell more products, you need to understand what your customers want and need from your products. And in order to do that, you need to analyze data about your products.

For example, you can use data from your product catalog to find out:

• Which products are the most popular with your customers? Least popular?
• Which products generate the most sales?
• Which products have the highest margins?

Your BI reporting tool can help by providing you with the ability to effectively analyze product data from a variety of sources. These analyses can help you better understand your products so you can make the best decisions regarding the products you sell.

3. Monitor your business operations

Your ecommerce store is only as successful as the systems and processes that support it. That’s why it’s important to monitor your business operations regularly.

BI reporting tools can help you keep tabs on all aspects of your business, from your website’s uptime to your customer service satisfaction levels.

Data on these and other factors can be collected and analyzed to help you identify areas where your business is excelling and areas where there is room for improvement. An adequate BI reporting tool can facilitate this process.

Reporting tools can help you discover:

• How often your website is down
• The satisfaction levels of your customer service team
• The areas where your business processes are most efficient (and inefficient)
• The areas where your customers are most (and least) satisfied with your business

As you can see, BI reporting tools can be a valuable asset when it comes to monitoring your business operations. With the right tool, you’ll be able to identify areas where your business could be improved and make the necessary changes.

4. Improve your marketing efforts

Another important way to improve your ecommerce store is to make sure your marketing efforts are effective in generating sales.

One of the biggest mistakes that store owners make is failing to track their marketing campaigns. As a result, they have no way of knowing which campaigns are high-yielding and which ones are a waste of money.

BI reporting tools can help you avoid this mistake by giving you the ability to track and measure the performance of your marketing campaigns. BI tools can continuously pull in current data from various marketing channels and update visualizations based on the new data. With the right tool, you can discover:

• The channels that generate the most traffic to your store
• The campaigns that result in the most sales
• The areas where your marketing efforts are most (and least) successful

With this valuable information, you’ll be able to make better decisions about the products you sell, the prices you charge, and the way you market your business.

5. Optimize your inventory management

If you want to run a successful ecommerce store, you need to have a well-organized inventory.

When you utilize a BI reporting tool to organize and visualize inventory data, you can discover elements such as product popularity, customer buying habits, and which items are selling the quickest. Doing so can help you make more informed decisions about your inventory, such as which products to restock and how frequently to restock them.

You can use BI reporting tools to find out:

• The products that are selling the quickest
• The products that are most popular with certain demographics
• The products that generate the most revenue
• Sales data to predict future inventory needs

Don’t rely on manual processes or gut instinct to make decisions about your inventory. Use BI reporting tools to get a better understanding of your business and make sure you always have the right products in stock.

6. Enhance customer service

Finally, it’s important to deliver excellent customer service if you want to run a successful ecommerce store.

BI reporting tools can help you track your customer service data and identify areas where your team can improve.

Reporting tools allow you to collect data from a variety of sources, including customer surveys, live chat transcripts, and phone call recordings. This data can then be filtered and analyzed to help you understand your customers’ needs and expectations.

You can use BI reporting tools to:

• Understand the general sentiment of customer reviews
• Identify which customer service reps are performing the best
• Understand what customers expect from your business

When you know exactly what your customers want and need, you’ll be able to deliver the level of customer service they expect.

The bottom line

BI reporting tools can provide valuable insights that can help store owners make more informed decisions and improve their business performance.

These six ways that reporting tools can help ecommerce store owners are just the tip of the iceberg.

If you’re not using BI to its full potential, check out some of the best reporting tools on the market and see how they can help you take your ecommerce success further.