Business Intelligence Scorecard from RIS

RIS News | July 31 2008

Christina Zarrello

Remember the old adage, "no risk, no reward?" The savvy use of business intelligence (BI) helps minimize risk and take the guesswork out of the size of the award. BI tools can help retailers tap into the minds of consumers (though analysis of shopping patterns and sales histories) to find out what styles and colors will be this season's best sellers. It can also be used to determine inventory levels to prevent out-of-stocks.

Using BI tools, retailers become forward-thinkers instead of always looking in the rear-view mirror. They have insight into corrective actions that need to be taken, what business opportunities that need to be seized, and the timing to make planning most effective. And by minimizing risk, retailers are cashing in on greater rewards.

Business intelligence has become so critical to retailers that they are spreading its use throughout the enterprise using dashboards, posted reports and real-time alerts. BI applications include decision support systems, query and reporting, online analytical processing, statistical analysis, forecasting, and data mining.

BI helps retailers weigh current and future risk by providing critical input into cost or benefit analysis. Most importantly, BI provides information on how to achieve strategic objectives, optimize performance, improve decision making, and set plans for scenario analysis and forecasting.

BI on the Rise

Business Intelligence (BI) is on the rise among U.S. businesses of any size. According to a report by AMI, approximately 37 percent of mid-size businesses and 9 percent of small businesses currently use BI.

According to the 2008 Retail Technology Study by RIS/Gartner, there is clear evidence of a new, smarter future emerging in retailing due to the expansion of BI throughout the enterprise. Today, powerful reporting intelligence is being built into nearly every business process.

Eye on Demographics

Before adding sophisticated BI, the technology team at Casual Male, a specialty retailer of big and tall apparel for men, would spend days collecting data into spreadsheets for weekly reports. In July 2007, the apparel retailer began to rollout a retail-specific BI and data warehousing application from QuantiSense. Since the implementation, both Casual Male XL and Rochester Big & Tall Clothing chains have experienced significant benefits.

The apparel retailer now uses a store grading tool to rank stores based on the performance of particular classes of products. This helps the retailer distribute inventory more appropriately, minimizing out-of-stocks and overstocks. The QuantiSense implementation also includes a sizing tool that enables Casual Male to evaluate the clothing sizes stocked in individual stores. Casual Male's BI tool also gives it the ability to generate exception reports on-demand, navigate through pertinent information on a dashboard and drill down for details.