RETAIL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM*Retail Management Information System anticipates the information needs of retail managers, collects, organises and stores relevant data on a continuous basis; and directs the flow of information to the proper decision makers.

Data collection,Information b) data storage and Analysis and control centerretrievalInterpretationc) updating of filesEnvironmentRetailers philosophyAnd objectivesStrategic plansRetail Operations

ADVANTAGES OF A GOOD RIS*Information collection is organised and is broad in scope

Data are regularly gathered and stored, thus opportunities can be foreseen and crisis avoided

Elements of strategy can be coordinated

New strategies can be devised more quickly

Quantitative results are obtainable and cost benefit analysis can be done

DATA-BASE MANAGEMENT*Data-base management is a procedure used to: gather integrate apply and store information related to specific subject areas. It is a key element in RIS and may be employed with customer databases, vendor databases, category databases and so on.

DATA-BASE MANAGEMENT*Retailers can use these databases for:Frequent shoppers programCustomer analysisPromotion evaluationTrading-area analysisJoint promotions with manufacturersMedia planning Customer communication

There are two specific aspects of data-base management: data warehousing and data mining and micromarketing.

DATA WAREHOUSING*Data warehousing is the mechanism for storing and distributing information whereby copies of all the data bases are maintained in one location and accessible to employees at any locale. There are four components to a data warehouse:The data warehouse, where the data are physically stored.Software to copy original data bases and transfer them to the warehouse.Interactive software to allow inquiries to be processed.A directory for the categories of information maintained in the warehouse.

DATA WAREHOUSING*Data warehousing has three major advantages:

Both information access and inconsistency problems are eliminated by consolidating data in one place.Executives and other employees can quickly get access to the same data at the same time no matter where they are located.By storing information centrally, greater data analysis are possible.

DATA MINING *Data mining involves the in-depth analysis of information so as to gain specific insights about customers, product categories, vendors and so forth. The goal is to determine whether there are opportunities for tailored marketing efforts that would result in better company performance.

MICROMARKETING*One emerging application of data mining is micromarketing, whereby the retailer uses differentiated marketing and develops focused retail strategy mixes for specific customer segments, sometimes fine-tuned for individual shopper.

GATHERING INFORMATION THROUGH UPC AND EDI*UPC- UNIVERSAL PRODUCT CODE:

The advantages of using UPC are: to produce better merchandising data, improve inventory management and control, speed up transaction time, increase productivity, reduce clerical errors in processing transactions, and coordinate the flow of information.Example: Wrigleys chewing gum in 1974 in Wal-Mart.

EDI- ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE, with EDI, retailer and suppliers regularly exchange information through their computers with regards to inventory levels, delivery times, unit sales and so on. Example: WILLS LIFESTYLE.

EAN*

European Article Number

EAN India, is a non-profit organization affiliated to EAN International, is under the Ministry of Commerce, GOI.It is formed with the objective of assigning Indian trade in adopting EAN international system for identification and communication of information on products and services.

Organizations that perform one of the following functions:Produce products that are ultimately sold at retail outlets,Distribute or store goods on a large scale,Exporter,Repackaging goods for further selling.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE USE OF RIS*SCALE AND SCOPE OF OPERATIONSFINANCIAL RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO THE ORGANISATIONSNATURE OF THE BUSINESSHUMAN RESOURSE AVAILABLE

E-COMMERCE MARKET IN INDIA*E-COMMERCE portals that saw light of success in India are: Bazee, Fabmall, Timer Internet, Rediff and Sify.Popular product categories are: Books, Music, Gifts.Most recent fastest selling category is : Travelwww.oxfordbookstore.com : launched in 2000 has a three tier integrated architecture, that at the top end, features catalogue browsing and ordering, on-line payment and customer registration. The middle tier constitutes a centralized web server to service the on-line shopper and retail shop, customer data mining solutions, inventory management and online enterprise management. The bottom tier represents the relational database management system.