In today’s hyper-competitive market, it is not enough for retailers to understand customer behavior — to be successful, retailers also must develop the ability to predict upcoming consumer actions. Gaining this insight can help companies improve their customer offers and conversations for increased sales and loyalty.

This retail imperative has spawned the growing use of predictive analytics technology, which analyzes patterns in historical and transactional data to help retailers make predictions about future consumer behavior. Examining customer spending and other behavior patterns to improve retention strategies, and cross-selling of products to boost profitability per customer are just two examples of how predictive analytics can impact the retail environment.