Applied Big Data for Brick-and-Mortar Retail Skyrockets; RetailNext In-Store Analytics Now Collects and Analyzes 75 Petabytes of Raw Data Annually

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- RetailNext, the leader in Applied Big Data for brick-and-mortar retail, is taking in-store shopper and performance data to new heights and insights. Today the company announced that it currently collects more than 75 petabytes (equal to 75,000,000 gigabytes) of raw data each year, which its platform converts into trillions of actionable data points derived from more than 400 million shopping visits in thousands of stores around the world. The milestone marks a new pinnacle in "Applied Big Data" for retail, revealing the adoption of technology that delivers fact-based insights about the physical shopping world – an issue that previously stumped physical stores and hindered the execution of true omnichannel strategies.

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RetailNext is the first real-time in-store analytics platform that enables retailers to collect and correlate data from a broad set of sources including video cameras, point-of-sale (POS) systems, time and attendance applications, RFID tags, and others.  The platform presents in-store metrics in a variety of intuitive formats including a flexible web console, customizable reports, heat maps of store traffic, and real-time alerts. Merchants have used RetailNext to increase same-store sales, reduce theft, eliminate unnecessary costs, and improve the customer experience.

"As the Big Data technology megatrend skyrockets, we're seeing rapid development of Applied Big Data. That is, technology platforms that use Big Data computing techniques, platforms, and tools to solve problems through massive computing power applied to massive quantities of data," explained RetailNext CEO Alexei Agratchev.  "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, into trillions of what we call analytical data points (one level more abstracted than the raw data) that then power the analysis, visualization, reporting, and alerting capabilities that ultimately benefit our user base."

With Applied Big Data for brick-and-mortar retail, RetailNext draws actionable inferences from shoppers' behavior in brick-and-mortar retail environments.  The system accounts for an array of factors like the physical location of shoppers and employees in the store (differentiating between the two); the layout, fixtures, and planogram of the store; staffing schedules; actual sales detail; and even the weather. Input sources can include video cameras, Wi-Fi tracking tags, RFID, and other in-store systems like those for point of sale (POS), staffing, and task management.

The potential for retailers is vast. They are able to extract a precise, factual understanding of how shoppers move around their stores – where they go, in what order, how long they stay, when they come to the store, and how these behaviors map to actual sales. Retailers have optimized staffing, store layouts, fixtures, and product offerings based on what they learned with RetailNext.  For instance, American Apparel increased same-store sales more than 30% and reduced theft by one seventh. CPG manufacturers also use the category to more thoroughly understand how packaging, merchandising, and marketing affect the full path to purchase.

About RetailNext
RetailNext is the leader in Applied Big Data for brick-and-mortar retail, delivering real-time analytics that enable retailers and manufacturers to monitor, collect, analyze, and visualize in-store data.  The company uses patent-pending best-in-class video analytics, on-shelf sensors, and data from point-of-sale systems and other sources to automatically inform retailers about how people engage with their stores. The highly scalable RetailNext platform easily integrates with promotional calendars, staffing systems, and even weather services to analyze how internal and external factors impact customer shopping patterns – providing store operations executives with the ability to identify opportunities for growth, execute changes, and measure success.  Headquartered in San Jose, CA, RetailNext is a growing global brand operating in 20 countries.  For more information, call +1-888-609-5877.

SOURCE RetailNext