https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190409005617/en/

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 9, 2019--In today’s customer-centric retail environment, the success of a company’s assortment strategy hinges on its ability to leverage data-driven insights and deliver on the needs of the modern shopper. The 2019 JDA Voice of the Category Manager Survey, conducted by  JDA Software, Inc., of 131 professionals responsible for category management and merchandising activity in North America revealed that retailers and manufacturers have become more effective at mining data-driven consumer insights to deliver effective merchandising assortments. To continue to ride the wave of customer demand, nearly half of retailers and manufacturers (43 percent) plan to invest in customer-driven data science in the next five years, a 16 percent increase since JDA conducted the first Voice of the Category Manager survey in 2017.

“Category management has transformed from being a tactical process to one of strategic importance. Assortment can no longer be viewed as a collection of products, but instead must be centered on how these products will enable consumers to have their evolving needs fulfilled,” said Todd McCourtie, senior director, industry strategy, JDA. “Our survey found that in two years, there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of retailers and manufacturers that can effectively mine and leverage consumer data. While this is a tremendous improvement, category managers recognize that conducting a deeper analysis of shopper personas, patterns and trend behaviors will enable them to make even smarter and more strategic decisions for each store and customer group. As such, customer-driven data science is in high demand.”