What: Coresight explores how data sharing, if seemingly contradictory with the notion of competition, could actually help retailers thrive together

Why it is important:  This report echoes the call for collaboration the IADS has made in its White Paper dedicated to sustainability.

In this report, Coresight explores how data sharing and collaboration can benefit retailers, brands and suppliers, analyzing thepotential for data sharing to accelerate and improve decision-making processes while also enhancing sustainability.

For the research company, the value of retailers’ unique data continues to grow, and so do the benefits of sharing it and collaborating with partners. Data greatly impacts allocation decisions: they estimate that $28.5 billion in revenue could be lost in the US apparel, footwear and accessories market in 2023 due to allocation issues alone.

Coresight considers that:

• Data sharing and collaboration can enhance the entire retail value chain, particularly in merchandising, the supply chain, managing e-commerce and physical stores.
• Creating a common data source—a “single source of truth”—with common data formats can drive speed to insights (eliminating the time wasted in converting data that delays its transformation into actionable insights).
• By collaborating and sharing data, retailers can better understand total brand performance by several attributes, and brands benefit from analyzing their products’ performance across the retailer’s stores.
• Accurately matching supply and demand results in less waste in manufacturing and from excess supply, and real-time demand data can identify issues early on that lead to costly returns.

For Coresight, there are numerous, clear benefits for retailers and brands to leave behind their legacy behaviors and technologies for data management (and secrecy) and implement data sharing and collaboration through the retail value chain. These activities can raise revenues, improve efficiency and boost margins, while at the same time improving sustainability, which has become a key theme among consumers and stakeholders in recent years.

How data sharing and collaboration can accelerate sustainability