Multi-site analytics
Combining financial, geospatial and demographic data to pinpoint the performance drivers of a large retail store portfolio.
The challenge
In the context of the restructuring of its portfolio of stores, our client, the management team of a large retail chain, wanted us analyze the key performance drivers of its portfolio, over a hundred stores spread over France, and assess their impact on profitability.
Our work consisted in collecting and homogenizing information to build key performance indicators relative to a very wide array of financial issues such as product margin or operating costs (personnel, rent) monitoring. The size of the portfolio and diversity of drivers to be analyzed were historically major issues for accurately pinpointing patterns of under-performance.
Management had historically been unable to launch such project due to a lack of data-oriented maturity and available resources for conducting the work. Moreover, the sensitivity around restructuring measures that would follow significantly increased the need for confidentiality with various operational teams.
The outcome
We built a set of store-by-store analyses which included rankings on revenue and profitability, or other quantitative performance indicators (operational efficiency, shrinkage, etc.). This analysis provided management with a view on historical trends of the store performance, combined with in-depth analysis to understand and pinpoint the underlying drivers.
In addition, we enriched the dataset with dynamic catchment area calculations and demographic data allowing management to understand the link between local demographic data and store performance on a store-by-store basis.
These analyses helped management to more precisely define its strategic and development planning, and more particularly with regards to identifying actions to optimize the existing store portfolio (remodeling, closures, etc.) and assess optimal “white zones” for future openings.
