A chain store marketing information system: realizing Internet-based enterprise integration and electronic commerce

Abstract

EXPRESS (a language used to define standard data models) is used to develop data models for products, categories, and chain stores allowing for ISO-integrated product data management. By applying EXPRESS to the task of managing product and market information, retail data are integrated in a central database and are accessible in real time by members of the distribution channel. Point of sales (POS) systems at the store level provide the streams of data from retail stores. These data are collected and kept in a central database used for dynamic sales analysis and merchandise planning. The decision models for automated shelf layout, continuous sales analysis, and real-time logistic management are incorporated into the marketing information system (MIS), which can be utilized by store managers through an easy-accessed Web-based interface. The WWW is the communicators' medium used to link the retail headquarters with the distributed retail chain. The central object-oriented database is based on the proposed EXPRESS data model and provides a means to manage large amounts of rapidly-changing information. Stores that implement retail information systems of this nature can easily expand to suitable and profitable economies of scale without loss of information and control.