The collection and application of Big Data is significantly impacting IT spending and retail strategies. Gartner predicts that Big Data will drive $34 billion of IT spending in 2013. On the heels of that announcement, RetailNext announced that the company reached its own milestone by collecting more than 75 petabytes of raw data each year.
Retailers are using insights collected from Big Data to optimize staffing, improve store layouts and increase same-store sales. Recently, American Apparel boosted same-store sales more than 30% and reduced theft by one seventh, RetailNext reported in a press release.
By converting that data into actionable insights for retailers, RetailNext is forwarding the strategy of “Applied Big Data,” noted Alexei Agratchev, CEO. “RetailNext is installing hundreds of stores each month and now monitors more than 30,000 sensors simultaneously. We process this flood of raw data, from 60 plus retail chains today.”
Advertisement
The RetailNext system takes a number of factors into account, including store layout, physical location of shoppers and employee in the store, staffing schedules, sales detail and even the weather. Data can be collected from a variety of sources such as video cameras, Wi-Fi tracking tags, RFID, POS and other store systems.
