analysis the case study attached by illustrating how performance analysis was effectively used to select, design, and evaluate interventions. Identify HPT competencies associated with the performance analyst role and describe how those competencies were applied by practitioners in your case study.
need a reply by June 12, 2012 1:30 pm est
references must be included
REI Boosts Sales by 9% using PivotLink On-Demand BA
“PivotLink marries up all this data in one place where people can get at it very, very easily. Looking at
the data, we could see relationships we couldn’t see before. It was very empowering.”
— John Strother, Director of Logistics, Inventory & Planning,
REI
CHALLENGE
REI is a national outdoor retail co-op dedicated to inspiring, educating and
outfitting its members and the community for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and
stewardship. Founded in 1938 by a group of Pacific Northwest mountaineers
seeking quality equipment, REI is committed to promoting environmental
stewardship and increasing access to outdoor recreation through volunteerism,
gear donations and financial contributions.
REI was looking for a business intelligence solution that would enable both
employees and outside vendors to make more effective and profitable decisions.
The retailer’s key requirement was to give multiple groups the ability to synthesize
and drill into critical performance data. Largest-volume vendors needed to
analyze product performance, store managers needed to uncover trends across
stores and regions, and merchandising employees needed to optimize the
product mix.
What REI needed was an on-demand BA solution that could:
• Allow multiple types of users to analyze a variety of metrics to
improve operational performance
• Provide powerful data analysis aimed at improving sales
• Reduce IT costs and resources needed for analysis and reporting
SOLUTION
According to John Strother, REI Director of Logistics, Inventory, and Planning,
“We were able to fund 80 percent of the startup costs for PivotLink with the
money we were already spending on maintenance fees for our existing system.
Given the extra value that PivotLink brings, the remaining 20 percent was well
worth it.”
INDUSTRY
• Retail
GEOGRAPHY
• North America
CHALLENGES
• End-users had no visibility into
critical sales data
• Existing on-premise BI solution
was costly to maintain and
inflexible
• Needed the ability to “slice and
dice” sales data
• Unable to make fact-based
decisions
RESULTS
• 9% increase in sales and 1.6%
increase in profit
• Improved in-stock rates, resulting
in more satisfied customers
• Reduced costs for critical
performance analytics
• Significantly improved
communications with largest-
volume suppliers
PivotLink is a leading provider of
on-demand business analytics.
For more information:
(866) 625-9884
pivotlink.com
PivotLink is used by 375 REI and vendor employees for returns analysis to ensure
quality assurance, in-stock analysis, comparisons, and vendor scorecards.
“Quality assurance is a big deal at REI,” said Strother. Due to safety issues
inherent with outdoor products, REI analyzes the reasons for returns and takes
them very seriously.
REI relies on PivotLink for numerous comparisons, including actual-to-budget,
store/Web catalog sales, and store performance by square foot, department,
region, and season. More than 125 of REI’s largest-volume suppliers review data
on returns, invoice accuracy, on-time deliveries, and other valuable information.
“PivotLink is fast, powerful and
easy-to-use. It quickly provides
the business insight we need
without breaking the bank.”
— John Strother,
Director of Logistics, Inventory & Planning,
REI
Identify actionable insights from your data
RESULTS
PivotLink presents critical information in a consistent way, and allows each
person to slice and dice data at will. Since implementing its PivotLink
On-Demand BA solution, REI has had a 9 percent increase in sales and a 1.6
percent increase in profit. Leveraging on-demand business analytics enables
REI to gain an unprecedented view into historical and current sales performance,
visible from the store to the executive suite.
“We’ve definitely improved our in-stock rates since reporting via PivotLink,” said
business analyst Randy Mauk. “Now buying decisions are based on what’s
selling and what’s not, instead of guesswork or loyalty to old products.”
Benefits:
• Enables business users to analyze and view data in anyway
• Easy-to-use and learn
• Faster, more informed decisions
• Reduce reliance on IT
