Lawson Software Will Feature Comparative Sales Analysis Capability
Joanna Doyle
Lawson Software (St. Paul, Minn.) will incorporate comparative sales analyzer capability in the next release of its retail analytic applications suite, the company announced this week.
Release 7.3.2, scheduled for Fall 2000, adds comparative sales functionality to its applications in order to provide retailers with the ability to maintain, analyze and report comparative sales and other key business performance indicators. Robert Toatley, general manager of Lawson’s Retail Business Unit, says the new application feature is designed to give retailers more flexibility and more control in tracking their business’s performance.
“E-commerce is prompting unprecedented changes in business models and strategies,” Toatley says. “We’re responding with analytic capabilities that enable retailers to measure business performance over key time periods, including daily, weekly and period-to-date. Our comp analysis solution includes options for adjusting parameters of the comparative data pool to accommodate user-defined events such as store openings and remodels.”
The new technology in Lawson’s retail applications includes a comparative sales analysis feature, which leverages integrated calendar functionality to make sales/business metrics reporting more efficient. The comparative analyzer eliminates the need for spreadsheet calculations and provides more accurate information with an easily maintained setup facility that reports based on the latest financial information. Retailers can use the product to conduct “What if?” comparative data analyses for unusual conditions like weather anomalies or operation characteristics like store format and location, according to the particular information they need.