Virgin Megastores charts real-time retailing trends

Virgin Megastores is using data warehousing software as the basis of a business intelligence (BI) project to improve the quality of its performance reporting.

The high-street retailer has created a repository for real-time access to sales figures fed from its shops, to improve buying and store management processes.

Tony Johnson, IT director for Virgin Megastores, says previous performance reporting capabilities did not provide a real-time view of what the company sells in each shop, and when.

‘We are using this reporting project to focus on the key areas of stores and margins,’ said Johnson. ‘We have a real-time view of stock, and other applications can link into this at the central, buying level.’

The company bought data warehousing systems and BI tools from specialist vendor MicroStrategy a year ago, and has just started to run reports through the system.

The music chain has already seen an improvement in the quality of data it relies on when purchasing goods for shops, something that Johnson says is particularly important in the retail entertainment business, given the frequency and volume of music, game and film releases.

‘We have to manage multiple product releases. For example, if a DVD game release is in limited supply, reordering more copies from the distributor works on a first come, first served basis,’ he said.

‘If we don’t get our order in there first we miss out on potential sales. So the data warehouse’s ability to see initial sales trends is key.’

Virgin Megastores now provides management with a centrally controlled, common view of sales and margins, and is planning to build on the benefits of its initial investment.

‘The next step is for us to provide the ability to analyse the data according to specific needs,’ said Johnson.