Maximizing Retail Store Performance Management

Historically, retailers have functioned largely in the shadow of Consumer Goods (CG) manufacturers. In many cases, the retailer's role was one of passive distribution of products for which demand creation and consumer "connection" was the responsibility of the CG organization. Those CG manufacturing and marketing organizations long ago embraced analytical applications and business intelligence in the pursuit of performance improvement. Marketing driven organizations were pioneers in adopting technology for dealing with large external data sets from syndicated data providers and the information explosion that came with commercial availability of detailed scanner-based sales data. What began as a performance management technology revolution largely in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) or grocery sector, recently has expanded significantly across virtually all CG sectors, and has provided value to many CG organizations.

With few national grocery retailers in North America at the time, and fewer still that carried influence beyond native borders around the world, even the largest of them had little reason to look beyond basic store operations -- well-stocked shelves, clean aisles, well-placed POS stations with civil clerks and plenty of parking -- for key performance indicators. Store traffic was a critical metric, and CPG product marketers provided the pull. Space limitations gave retailers some influence in determining distribution levels for lower-volume and new products, and some retailer private labels gained a following.