The Data Logger

When I drove my jalopy those days, it often used to breakdown and I could set it right more frequently all by myself, than seeking the assistance of a mechanic! I identified problems by trial and error. The other day as my 4X4 stopped on a flyover in a highway, I could not do a thing, except to call for the service personnel of the dealer, who fixed the problem in no time.

Some progressive retail organizations go great guns and fix their operational problems just like that! They become profitable faster. They bestow their retail store heads with the authority to take decisions on their own and to offer even discounts and price-offs to customers on items of their choice without referring such decisions to the merchandising authorities or taking any permission from them. The call could be their own as these heads are responsible to deliver the planned gross margins of the store. In many organizations the retail store heads and the operations guys on the floors could never take such price adjustment decisions as they are always considered to be decisions that could only come from those responsible for Merchandising & Buying. The ease of operations is rendered by the responsibility to run a store profitably. The SKU may be a fast selling one or may be a laggard, the store head could exercise his authority to accelerate its sale or just to promote it.  While handling a large number of SKU’s in a store, which could even exceed a lakh in number in a department store or hypermarket, a category promotion below-the-line at the floor level decided by the store head could notch up great sales.

If store heads could not take decisions and if such decisions are left with back-end authorities, the desired objectives may not be achieved on time. The system often alerts floor people not only on the sale figures but on margins too. The manager's dashboard would show the current figures against objectives set. When I used to be on the retail floors in yesteryears, we only had sales and stock figures coming up on our screens so that we could know the velocity of sales and the rates of stock-turn of a category, sub-category, brand or SKU. Never did we have an opportunity to have a glimpse of the margins. Margins were always kept a closely guarded secret. When store heads are now given a targeted margin, they have the commitment to achieve it, by taking the right decisions. When a store head sees his current percentage of margins in each category he knows what to focus on and how to achieve the targeted margins. In the years gone by, we were happy referring pricing decisions to be taken by Buying and Merchandising authorities and taking the surprise of the revelation of the margin at the end of day! Data analytics and Business Intelligence have helped us, retailers, a great deal in the current times. Above all, the confidence that retail organizations have reposed in the retail operations personnel that they could take the right Retail decisions relating to Merchandising, has helped a great deal.

When I am on data analytics, I must mention that the new generation automobiles and even cranes have their artificial intelligence. They are supported by computer chips that have a ‘data logger’. Technical problems are identified easily by logging into the machine with the help of a computer and it could throw up details of any problem area for rectification and can also give instantaneous step-by-step guidance for fixing. Life has become so easy with even complicated machines. We only have to possess the right attitude and inclination to allow our functional guys to perform and they will, even better than anyone in the back-end or even anyone in the line up!

- Dr. Gibson G. Vedamani