These days, successful retail brands like New Balance are using consumer data to inform every decision they make, and they’re experiencing a slew of benefits because of it.

On the other hand, businesses that invest time looking backward at historical data to try to predict future consumer preferences often find they’re wasting money developing products no one wants, as well as contributing to environmental waste when failed products are incinerated or sent to landfills. This playbook looks at how harnessing the power of new technology can help retailers inform their business future through things like:

• Factoring in data from several different real-time and forward-facing sources to inform product creation
• Digitally gathering detailed feedback from thousands of consumers across specific segments 
• Offering consumers the ability to sample 3-dimensional computer-aided designs, rather than physical products

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