A brief overview of how business intelligence systems can provide information in the retail space.

1. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
© Ross Hilton

2. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT HAPPENS:
The can is scanned at the
checkout.
The barcode informs the
scanner what the product
is.
An entire chain of events
takes place in a
microsecond.

3. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT HAPPENS:
A record of the sale is
sent to a transactional
data store.
This stores short term
transaction records
for the individual
store.

4. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT HAPPENS:
An amortised report is sent to
an ERP system.
Stock holding levels are
monitored, a new can is
reordered.

5. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT HAPPENS:
An amortised report is sent to a
BPM system. Stock turnover is
analysed against checkout
position, staff member, product
placement. Marketing campaign,
time of sale, day of sale, season
of sale, date of sale. A series of
statistical predictions are made.
These item reports may be made
available to the supplier, store
manager, HR staff, marketing
department, etc.

6. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT HAPPENS:
A record of sale is sent to
finance system. The profit on
the sale is lodged, the
transfer from stock to capital
is made. Capital is allocated
for replacement stocks.

7. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT HAPPENS:
A record is sent
to the EDW. It is
stored for 10
years. Historical
data from this
EDW is used for
trend analysis.

8. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT WE KNOW:
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
• Financial management know that beans have a 55%
profit markup, an average shelf life of 12 days and are
the 28th most profitable items in the store.
• They know that beans account for 0.5% of the
profitability of the chain of supermarkets.

9. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT WE KNOW:
PRODUCT LINE MANAGEMENT
• Product line managers know that more cans of beans are sold
between 4 and 6 pm on Thursdays than any other day.
• They know that bean can sales are up 3% on last month, but
down 4% compared to this day last year.
• Seasonal trends show bean sales are declining over the last 5
years.
• They know that when the "Bean Can" promotion was on store
bean can sales increased by 2%.
• They know that when bean cans were in isle 5 sales fell by 12%.

10. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT WE KNOW:
HR MANAGEMENT
• HR management knows that Debbie on the Checkout handles
more customers at the end of her Thursday shift than on any
other day.
• They know her performance compared to the rest of the staff
has declined in the last 3 months.
• They know that there was a 45 second gap between scanning
each can of beans.

11. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT WE KNOW:
SHIFT MANAGER
• They can plot Debbie's work performance, hour by hour,
day by day.
• They can compare Debbie's performance against other
workers, or against her performance for the same period last
year.
• They can map Debbie's performance against internal events
(store layout restructure, new manger, new colleagues etc) or
external factors (wet days, prior or post holidays, day after
payday etc).

12. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT WE KNOW:
SHOPFRONT MANAGEMENT
• Shopfront management know that number 6 checkout
position sells more canned products between 4 and 6pm on
Thursdays than any other.
• They know that on Thursday evenings more customers buy
beans from isle 6 than from any other area of the
supermarket.
• They know that when the "Bean Can" promotion was on
bean can sales increased by 2%.
• They know that when bean cans were in isle 5 sales fell by
12%.

13. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT WE KNOW:
SHOPFRONT MANAGEMENT (Cont)
• They know the next customer didn't have products
scanned until 4 minutes after I paid for the can.
• They know number 6 checkout is the most unprofitable
on Thursday evenings.

14. KNOWLEDGE IN A CAN OF BEANS
WHAT WE KNOW:
MARKETING
• Marketing know that on Thursday evenings more customers
buy beans than any other canned food product.
• They know that when the "Bean Can" promotion was on bean
can sales increased by 7%.
• They know that some stores performed better than others
during the promotion.
• They know that isle placement of beans can alter sales by as
much as 25%.
• Seasonal trends show bean sales are declining over the last 5
years in most stores.