Business Intelligence, Retail Billing, Retail Innovation

How retail business intelligence is transforming.

September 15, 2021
Posted by Sandy Van Wyk

15 Sep

Business intelligence in retail industry has made it possible to gain in-depth knowledge about your customer, their needs, their spend patterns, and the correlation with your products and sales is recognized by the Business Community from times immemorial. We also need to recognize that Retail Businesses operate on thin margins hence a Smart Business Owner would always maintain a balance in aspects related to Fast Moving Sales, Inventory cost and his own rate of Purchase spend to optimize profits.
With the extensive usage of computers, this traditional trait or business secret is available today in the form of Business Intelligence and Analytics Solutions which has found widespread adoption across industry segments including Retail.
Retail analytics primarily focuses on providing insights related to customers, their sales, store inventory, purchase and financials which are all crucial for Retailers decision-making process. The transaction data that retailers generate over a period of time is a “goldmine” of information that can help in further growth of the Retail organization.

Today’s BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE (BI) in retail solutions let you create Dashboards to

Analyze and maintain a 360-degree view of each customer, their demographics, purchasing power, trends, patterns, preferences and behavior.
Plan, monitor, and assess the success of your promotional activities and get insight into how your customers react to marketing incentives, seasonal promotions, and competition.
Do Price Comparisons and Optimization

The following are the types of Data Analytics

Descriptive Analytics provides insights to know “What” is happening in your business based on the transaction data. This is achieved with Online Analytical Process (OLAP) based Data warehousing tools and Big Data Analytics.
Diagnostic Analytics answers the “Why” of specific business problems, to find anomalies and flag potential problems. This is achieved with algorithm-based scripts and programs on large volumes of data often involving Machine Learning and AI
Predictive Analytics in a way tells you “What’s Next”. It uses algorithms and statistical methods to predict future trends. Combination of AI, advanced mathematics, and intelligent automation is a perfect recipe for successful prediction.
Prescriptive Analytics Can suggest the retailers “what you should do next” to get the best results. Running simulations to find conditions that lead to the highest profit. The objective is achieved by using algorithmic AI to find the best possible mathematical outcome (Profit, GMROI, etc.). Using machine learning program to identify patterns and cluster for best outcomes

The following are some of the commonly used Dashboards

Sales

Overall

Year, Quarter, Month
Store and Product

Product Category Wise
Item wise

Year, Quarter, Month
Store and Product
Brand
Pricelist

Sales Rep wise

Year, Quarter, Month
Store and Product

Purchase

Overall Summary

Year and Quarter Wise Comparisons
Top Suppliers
Top Parent/ Product Category Purchases

Supplier / Vendor wise Purchases

Top Parent/ Product Category Purchases
Year and Quarter Wise Comparisons

Sales – Purchase Combination

Sum of Sales and Purchase
Total Cost Vs Total Sales
Measure by Month and Year
Pricelist wise comparisons

Stock

Organization Wise Stock Quantity and Value
Stock Quantity and Value
Product Category Wise Quantity and Value

As it is evident from the above, to deduce accurate correlation and insights from data one needs to have the required knowledge, the right data and tools to fully utilize and tap the true potential that Business Intelligence offers.
Posibolt is a leading provider of Retail BI solutions backed by its famous ERP that includes end to end Accounting, Inventory and Point of Sale (POS) solutions across retail formats and variety of Distribution Centers whose customers are spread in 10 countries across Africa, Europe, Middle East and Asia.For more details visit www.posibolt.com, send in your queries to info@posibolt.com or call us on +91 87141 13166