Retailer takes stock with business intelligence

Regional department store chain Pearsons is introducing business intelligence software to increase sales and help it match customer demand.

The retailer has already been using Microsoft Dynamics-based software from systems integrator K3 for around two and a half years, and is now upgrading to a version of the software which includes business intelligence applications so users can tailor information they are extracting from the system to their needs.

Christopher Moseley, head of IT at Pearsons, told silicon.com: "The biggest single benefit [of the software] is that we know what stock we have at any one time."

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Moseley said: "We know the stock instantly at the touch of a button because all the sales come back from the tills to the head office within minutes of a sale going through."

The software allows Pearsons to match consumer demand for certain items – for example by reducing prices if certain stock items are not shifting or making sure there is enough stock of more popular lines in the warehouse.

The three Pearsons department stores, in Herfordshire and Middlesex, hold 250,000 separate product lines.

Moseley added the main challenge of the IT overhaul has not been the software but collecting the data for all those lines and putting in all the controls to make sure the system registers the correct amount of stock.