Retailers are vital parts of the business world because they add value to products by making it easier for consumer to buy the products of various manufacturers. By bringing multitudes of manufacturers and consumers together to a single point,retailers makes it possible for the products to be sold, and consequently business to be done.
Retailers also provide services that make it easier for the consumer to make choices on the available products. The retailers provide consumers with contact persons who can answer their specific questions and queries. Retail stores also offer many services for purchasing and payment of the products, such as credit card payment facility.
It is critical for retailers to understand and predict the future business trends. The retailers need to know answers for many questions such as what to store and what to sell?
The conventional transactional and operational system are limited in answering such question. BI systems can provide more insight to retairlers on the behaviour of consumers,the sale of products, and vendor profitability. BI systems can also enables retailers to draw insights that will improve the efficiency and profitability of their business.
Business Intelligence can be used in various areas of the retail industry, such as:
Retailers also provide services that make it easier for the consumer to make choices on the available products. The retailers provide consumers with contact persons who can answer their specific questions and queries. Retail stores also offer many services for purchasing and payment of the products, such as credit card payment facility.
It is critical for retailers to understand and predict the future business trends. The retailers need to know answers for many questions such as what to store and what to sell?
The conventional transactional and operational system are limited in answering such question. BI systems can provide more insight to retairlers on the behaviour of consumers,the sale of products, and vendor profitability. BI systems can also enables retailers to draw insights that will improve the efficiency and profitability of their business.
Business Intelligence can be used in various areas of the retail industry, such as:
- Merchandising management:- Merchandising is a prime part in the retailer's business. BI support analysis of past performances to forecast coustmer behavior. BI also aids retailers in accurately estimating allocation of merchandise across the various stores and channels. Analysis of previous demands of coustomers ensures efficient assortments, size, and distirbution.
- Operations Management:- Retailers need to understand changes in demand of the consumers. In addition, retailers need to be able to predict the changes in demand before competitors. Retailers need to understand the changing demand by hour, by day, by location, or by price change among many parameters. Using BI tools, retailers can understand the demand cycle more accurately. As a result, they can optimize the store floor and delivery operations.
- Marketing management:- Retailers have to be careful in designing sales campaigns for their stores. To do this, retailers perform various analysis, such as market profiling and market basket analysis, by using BI application,
- Coustmer relationship management:- This the key to any retail business's success. Implementing BI can help retailers in understanding their customers and roll-out loyalty programs to increase sales.BI can help retailers manage their customer bas by:
- Segmenting customers: segmenting customers with respect to how customers respond to marketing campaigns can helps retailers in setting their audience profile for the various marketing campaigns
- Promotion effectiveness: Learning from past promotions helps in understanding the various factors that influence the success of retail stores's marketing campaigns.
- Supply Chain Management:- BI systems can assist retailers in their supply chain management by using techniques such as demand forecasting, inventory anlysis and supplier performance monitoring.