In the era of digital retail, data has become a major challenge for the sector’s players. But how can its full potential be exploited? Thanks to Business Intelligence, retail outlets can now effectively manage their business while optimising their supply chain.
Effective management of retail KPIs
To make better decisions and improve business practices at the point of sale, it is essential to understand customer behaviour and habits.
Hence, the need to rely on relevant KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) adapted to the retail sector, for example:
- Shop traffic
- The number of transactions
- The conversion rate
- Turnover per square metre
- The average basket
Business Intelligence enables the aggregation of a multitude of data from multiple sources, then the real-time retrieval of the most relevant information to measure the performance of a shop or a distribution network. By monitoring its sales KPIs, the company can therefore progress towards its objectives, evaluate its success and identify areas for improvement.
The result is that the outlets manage the resources deployed in an optimal way. This results in better planning and the implementation of appropriate merchandising and animation actions.
Setting up a retail dashboard
Another strong point of Business Intelligence is its ability to represent data and sales KPIs in an intuitive way. Indeed, it allows raw information to be transformed into graphs, curves, diagrams, maps and other diagrams, thanks to data visualisation.
Gathered in a decision dashboard, the data can be interpreted much more easily. Major trends and issues are highlighted, allowing for informed decision-making.
In short, a BI solution is essential for centralising large volumes of scattered data, but also for making the best use of them, thanks to understandable and entertaining visual representations.
BI for the supply chain
A company collects a multitude of data at every stage of the supply chain. It concerns products, customers, suppliers, warehouses, shops, and vehicle fleets.
A business intelligence tool not only centralises the data, but also allows it to be updated continuously. Stored on site or in the cloud, the data also benefits from optimal security and confidentiality.
In addition, to optimise the supply chain, it is necessary to measure its efficiency on an ongoing basis using key performance indicators. With a BI solution, the company has the possibility to monitor all its KPIs in real time:
- Service rate
- Order preparation rate
- Availability rate
- Breakdown rate
- Etc.
Finally, Big Data can identify any breakdown or anomaly in the supply chain, all in record time. By taking advantage of new technologies, it is even possible to anticipate and correct problems before they occur: this is what is known as predictive maintenance.
Digitalisation of the supply chain
The digital transformation of the supply chain is based on 3 main levers:
- The Internet of Things (IoT): very useful for collecting and analysing data, it is used in particular to anticipate the availability of human and material resources, supplies of raw materials or maintenance needs.
- Artificial intelligence: capable of predicting future activities based on existing data, it allows for improved decision-making and predictive maintenance.
- Predictive analytics: this involves predicting the future by studying historical and current data. This can be used to optimise stock management and transport networks, while improving the customer experience.
In this context, Business Intelligence is a real asset to support the digitalisation of the supply chain. Indeed, it shines through its ability to collect and process large volumes of data in various fields: transport, purchasing, stocks, maintenance, etc.
The company can therefore improve It’s end-to-end supply chain by exploiting the full potential of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and predictive analysis.
A powerful alternative for inventory management
Good stock and supply management requires appropriate software. However, spreadsheets such as Excel have many limitations today:
- Lack of connectivity with business solutions and other company tools
- Manual data entry, which is the cause of many errors
- Limited security
- Lack of automatic data updating
- The inability to automate supply chain management tasks
A business intelligence solution solves these problems, while taking stock and supply management a step further. It is able to synchronise a multitude of information in real time, whether it is related to shops, warehouses, purchases, stocks, raw materials or transport.
Centralised in a data warehouse, this valuable data is processed and analysed to anticipate shortages of raw materials, avoid stock-outs and anticipate orders to be placed with suppliers. BI also enables better control of logistics, storage, and warehousing costs.
In the end, it is a real lever for growth and development for the company, which can thus reduce its loss of turnover, while ensuring the satisfaction of its customers.
From monitoring KPIs in a retail dashboard to optimising the supply chain, Business Intelligence offers numerous possibilities for retail outlets to manage their performance, improve their logistics flows and, ultimately, offer an optimal customer experience.
