Today’s retailers face external and internal challenges including knowledgeable customers, longer supply chains, shrinking demand cycles and a constrained economy. RSR believes these challenges cannot be proactively addressed if business operators don’t have accurate, actionable information available when and where it’s needed.

A majority of Retailers Winners agree. They clearly see real-time Business Intelligence (BI) as a critical tool to help respond to unpredictable demand and improve Average Transaction Value. Winners also have a greater appreciation of the value of real-time BI in the supply chain.

The focus of this study was to learn how retailers are responding to the need for real-time business intelligence in their operations, especially in light of the past year’s economic conditions and consumer constraints. Separately, we sought to better understand how retailers perceive challenges and opportunities created by the sudden emergence of social media.