Analysis and integration technology produced by SAS and implemented by Staples has won the World-Class Performance Award from Electronic Commerce (EC) World magazine.
Staples, based in Framingham, Mass., is using the analysis and integration applications from SAS to amalgamate sales data from a host of platforms and operating systems that support 1,400 North American retail outlets, a Web site, catalog business and in-store kiosks. In addition to supporting processing and data analysis of 600,000 daily transactions, the tools provide connectivity to dozens of databases that store customer-purchasing information.
“Call data, mail-order addresses, sales histories, POS data and Web transactions … Staples is successfully harnessing this wealth of data and turning it into business intelligence,” Anne Milley, director of Analytical Intelligence at SAS, said in a statement. “Analytic Intelligence enables Staples to direct customer activity to the most appropriate sales channels.”
Win Fuller, director of market analysis for Staples, said the company has successfully used the SAS technology to integrate all customer and sales data from multiple channels in order to determine how customers migrate from one channel to another, and what they are purchasing from the physical store versus online.
“We’ve found that by moving customers from using one channel to using all three of our channels, we get a very significant increase in the amount of the things that they buy from us,” Fuller said in a statement. “We also have been able to reduce our response time from minutes to seconds, maintain sales growth momentum and keep inventory at a minimum.”
EC World magazine also recognized four other companies for successful implementations of e-commerce systems. In addition to office supplies retailer Staples, this year’s awards went to defense industry manufacturer BlackHawk Industries, apparel and accessories company Pacific Sunwear of California, financial services firm InvestorForce and hardware industry buying cooperative Do It Best Corp. The editorial staff of EC World chose the five award winners after a review of proposals submitted last year.
“Each of these companies has shown noteworthy use of electronic commerce systems that have helped them stand out in their industries, even in tough economic times,” EC World Managing Editor Philip Burgert said in a press release. “We believe they provide excellent examples of how companies can implement e-commerce strategies to improve their operations.”
