Retailers' Growing Appetite for Business Analytics

By Caterina Pontoriero
Whether retailers are enhancing the shopping experience, managing promotions or expanding their business, they need relevant data – and the tools to turn that data into insights – to help them make the right decisions.
Business analytics solutions use statistical and quantitative analysis along with explanatory and predictive modeling to uncover these insights, and then display them via dashboards that pinpoint the most relevant information.

This month’s Vendor Landscape focuses on business analytics solutions. RIS lists some of the major BA vendors and highlights some recent retailer deployments.

Informed Risk-Taking
Subway Restaurants used Applied Predictive Technologies’ Test & Learn Management System to launch its “$5 Footlong.” “Test & Learn helps us to be risk-taking. We can test any idea and rapidly roll out the ones that work,” said Jeff Moody, president and CEO of the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust. “APT’s solution provided consistent, standardized results, allowing us to innovate quickly and with confidence.”

Data Improves Shopping
American Apparel is using BVI Network’s RetailNEXT solution to apply a data-driven approach to providing the best shopping experience through advanced collection, analysis and presentation of information.

Advanced Scheduling
Big M, parent company of Mandee, Annie Sez and Afaze, implemented the new Epicor Retail BI 2.0 solution, adding advanced scheduling and reporting to the current system. Deb Shops, Build-a-Bear Workshop, Ben Moss and Roots have also recently adopted the solution.

Data Management
Robinsons Supermarket, one of the largest retailers in the Philippines, is using Manthan Systems’ ARC Supplier Portal & Analytics. The platform exchanges information critical to processes like master data management, inventory management and customer insight.

Expansion SUPPORT
Everything But Water, a women’s swimwear retailer, selected MI9 Business Intelligence as it embarks on an aggressive expansion plan for opening new stores, to provide comprehensive merchandise and analytics systems that are seamlessly integrated and manage both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce operations.

Trend Visibility
Groupon is using an integrated reporting platform from MicroStrategy9 to analyze its daily deals and gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior by examining the types of goods purchased, discounts offered, location and purchaser demographics. This visibility into trends will help Groupon optimize and maximize deals for improved performance.

Faster Reports
Footwear retailer ECCO USA and underwear retailer Freshpair will implement the PivotLink Business Intelligence Platform to quickly perform data reports. With PivotLink, data  can be analyzed in its native form, ensuring that all the relevant data is included in the views, delivering informed perspectives for all end users.

Lowering Overstocks
The Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) recently went live with the QuantiSense BI Solution in its nearly 300 global stores and 1,200 service operations across 104 naval installations. QuantiSense will help NEXCOM reduce overstocks, a key challenge since some of NEXCOM’s products are required to be in stock over 90% of the time, without maintaining excess inventory.

Expanded Support
Eddie Bauer recently agreed to deploy Quantum Retail’s business analytics solution. The Q version 10.05 adds support for complex supply chains, e-commerce enhanced order planning and forecasting capabilities.

Mobile-Accessible BI
The recently released Unified Business Intelligence version 4.0 from SAP BusinessObjects Portfolio allows users to access intuitive, real-time BI across a wide range of mobile platforms and devices and to respond more easily to events as they are unfolding. The release includes new interactive visualizations.

Targeted Campaigns
Chico’s FAS has been able to better reach customers by automating and targeting marketing campaigns with SAS business analytics software. “A campaign now takes four days to pull together versus 30 days prior,” says Gary King, CIO of Chico’s. “This has allowed the team to create more targeted campaigns for our clientele.”