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Retail
Profile
With revenues exceeding $50 billion, this Retail Company (RC) operates more than 1,300 stores in 47 states, including over 140 super stores which provide an upscale grocery shopping experience.
Need
The continued growth of Wal-Mart and a slow economic recovery has increased economic pressure through much of the retail industry. Although most are relatively late adopters of analytic software solutions, retailers are now moving quickly to exploit the power of analytics throughout the enterprise.
RC is no exception. Most recently, the company recognized that stores were usually understaffed or overstaffed — sometimes dramatically — in relation to actual customer traffic levels. Scheduling of staff was still being done manually at the store level, with limited or out-of-date information related to factors which influence staffing levels.
The company sought to build a solution which would enable its demand planning analysts to provide timely, accurate forecast data to store managers for dynamic optimization of staffing levels.
Outcome
Pinnacle Solutions designed & developed the analytics engine for a system which creates forecast data for use at the store level. The system, which uses sophisticated regression analysis and moving average techniques, enables RC’s demand planning analysts to deliver more accurate forecasts to the store managers. As a result, the company is optimizing its return on human capital by better aligning store staffing levels with actual customer traffic.
Benefits
- Minimized over-staffing costs
- Reduction in stress levels among store managers and staff
- Maximized return on human capital