New Clicks
"In the retail sector, you simply cannot enter the game if you do not have access to sales and customer information. We use BusinessObjects daily to track sales and expenses, assess category performance, and evaluate marketing promotions and customer loyalty across our 1,000 stores. It enables us to make swift decisions about introducing new products in ways that are key to successful, innovative retailing."
- Alan Marais, data warehouse manager, New Clicks Group
Increasing Retail Competition
Since opening its first store in 1968, Clicks has become a retail institution in South Africa. With competition increasing, Clicks needs to constantly innovate and increase sales through new products and formats while tracking its expenses. The company developed a data warehouse in the late 1990s that provided an excellent central source of business information. But Clicks was struggling to provide the business with critical information from the warehouse, relying on Visual Basic applications and Excel spreadsheets.
"Clicks has a very comprehensive data warehouse but we could not unlock the value of that information to the company," says Marais. "Our executive team didn't have ready access to data. They were reliant on IT or administration staff to extract data and format spreadsheets."
Unlocking the Data Warehouse
New Clicks chose BusinessObjects Web Intelligence for over 300 users - from its CEO and senior management to finance, marketing, and category management across the Cape Town head office and regional offices in Johannesburg and Durban.
According to Marais, "Business Objects is enabling Clicks to exploit the information that resides in our stores, merchandising, and Clicks ClubCard systems."
The Oracle-based data warehouse includes a diverse range of information sources, including sales from Storeline POS, JDA Merchandise Management System, SAP Financials, and SCM Distribution System. This information source delivers tailored reports, including a financial pack with expense and profitability reports; a sales pack that tracks sales on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis; and a category management pack providing detailed product and supplier performance information. Suppliers also have access to the information via an extranet, and the company plans to deploy BusinessObjects Web Intelligence in stores, increasing user numbers to 500.
Enabling Retail Innovation
Web Intelligence has replaced hours of complex manual data collection with immediate access to performance trends - from sales to promotions. Consistent category management performance metrics provide realistic comparisons between different ranges of products, allowing the company to confidently undertake product innovations. Category managers are using this information to strengthen relationships with suppliers, manage the supply chain, and assure store refurbishments.
Performance analysis at the store level, comparing sales with money spent on marketing, salaries, and rentals, is also improving operational efficiency and profitability. An improved understanding of the demographics of three million customers combined with the ability to track promotions daily enables Clicks to be more effective with the $100 million spent on marketing every year.
Quick Facts
Challenge
- Increasing retail competition in South Africa
- Unlocking comprehensive business information from a data warehouse
Solution
- BusinessObjects Web Intelligence and BusinessObjects Broadcast Agent Scheduler for real-time information and business driven alerts
- Over 300 users from senior management to finance, marketing and category managers, and key suppliers
Benefits
- Enhanced category management and product innovation
- Improved relations with key suppliers
- Growing understanding of loyal customer profiles and better targeted marketing campaigns
- Increased operational efficiency in the stores