Every day counts in retail. So waiting a week for performance data isn’t an option.
But a major UK DIY chain were behind the curve. Their weekly sales operations reports were out of date and hard to understand. Their reports were holding them back. Could Pivot get them back on track?
For a major UK DIY chain, business performance hinges on maximising footfall and sales across every store in the country. In retail, trends shift quickly, seasonal demands fluctuate, and competitive pressures never sleep. When problems emerge, executives need to spot them fast.
Every week, the company produced comprehensive PDF reports packed with all the key performance indicators executives needed. On paper, it seemed thorough. In practice, it was a nightmare.
The tables were massive and impossible to navigate. For executives on the move between stores and meetings it was impossible. Worse still, by the time these reports landed in inboxes, the data was up to a week old. In retail, that’s an eternity. It’s enough time for a performance issue to become a crisis. Or for a successful initiative to lose momentum.
Executives found themselves making critical decisions based on stale information. All presented in a format that made it impossible to identify the root causes of problems.
Pivot had worked successfully with the client before. So the client turned to Pivot to develop a solution that would transform how executives used their performance data.
Pivot recommended a web-based application. It would extract data from the company’s core SAP systems. It would prioritize both performance and simplicity. The solution would give executives instant access to the latest information wherever they were. Whether it was on tablets, laptops, or even mobile phones for those keen-eyed enough to navigate the data on smaller screens.
Instead of presenting massive, static tables, the new application became interactive. Executives could start at the division level and drill down through regions to examine individual store performance. They could view product categories and buying groups by geography. It was all presented with intuitive visual cues.
The drill-down capability enabled them to identify possible causes of poor performance. That was impossible with the previous PDF reports. They could customize the application to focus on the information relevant to their specific role.
The advantages of this online solution were compelling. Real-time connection to the latest information meant decisions were based on current, not historical, performance.
It required zero device management. No software to load, no licenses to pay, nothing to maintain or upgrade. Executives did not need to download data to devices. That eliminated security risks if a device was lost or stolen.
The application ran on the existing SAP infrastructure. So it benefited from support and security arrangements already in place.
After approval, Pivot built and deployed the complete solution in just four weeks.
The transformation was immediate. Executives could now spot performance trends as they developed. They could identify successful strategies worth replicating. They could address problems before they impacted multiple locations. What had been a weekly exercise in historical analysis became a daily tool for proactive management.
For a business where every day of delayed response can mean lost revenue and market share, real-time fundamentally changed how the business could adapt and thrive.
