4. Information Systems

Question 1

Building and using a retail information system

Answer 1

Retailers set goals and do strategic planning for their retail stores, and these goals are influenced by environmental factors. When strategic planning is outlined, retail information is needed. Retailers may either retrieve information that is already available from files or collect new information. Retailers store information relating to performance results and regular reports. This information is used to adjust their strategic plans.

Question 2

Gathering information through UPC and EDI

UPC

Answer 2

Some retailers rely on UPC, while others opt for EDI. UPC involves barcodes or tags attached to goods. It is a thick vertical lines or numbers that represent each item’s identity. Barcodes are used for scanning product information on the price, size, colour and other information.

Question 3

Gathering information through UPC and EDI

EDI

Answer 3

Retailers and suppliers use EDI to exchange information on inventory levels, delivery times and unit sales. This improves decision-making, ensures better control inventory and the system is more responsive to demand.
MTN retail stores use retail information systems to collect, organise and store relevant data on a continuous basis and also to direct the flow of information to branch managers. Information on customer, sales, products, suppliers and so on is collected and stored. All the information is coordinated and informed retail decisions can be made.

Question 4

Database according to consumer

Answer 4

Purchase frequency
Demographics
Payment methods

Question 5

Database according to vendor

Answer 5

Total retail purchase per period
Total sales to customer per period
Most popular item
Average delivery times
Service Quality

Question 6

Database according to product

Answer 6

Total category sales per period
Item sales per period
Retail profit margins
Percentage items discounted