Alliance Supermarket and Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems Read the Alliance Supermarket case study in Chapter 10 of your text. CaseStudies AllianceSupermarkets AllianceSupermarketshasbeenusingapoint-of-sale(POS)systemforsometimetotrackitsinventory.Thesystemusesalaserscannertoreadtheuniversalproductcode(UPC)oneachitematthecheckoutcontainer.TheUPCisanumberthatuniquelyidentifiestheproductonwhichitappears.CurrentlyAllianceisusingtheUPCinformationtoupdateinventoryrecordsforeachitem.Althoughthesystemhasgreatlyimprovedthecompany’sabilitytoreplenishinventorypromptlythecompanystillhassomeproblems.Forexamplesuddenchangesindemandforaparticularitemcancatchthecompanybysurpriseasitbasesinventoryreplenishmentonhistoricaldemandpatterns.Furtherdemandpatternsandpreferencesmayvaryfromonestoretoanotherdependingonthecustomersservedbyeachbuttheinventorysystemgroupsalldemandinformationtogetherandtreatseachstoreequally.FinallythemanufacturersthatmaketheproductsstockedbyAllianceSupermarketsarealwayspressuringAlliancetohelpthemtargetappropriatecustomersforspecialpromotionsandsales. Thechiefinformationofficer(CIO)ofAlliancerealizesthatmuchmorecouldprobablybedonewiththedatacollectedfromitsPOSsystem.Forexamplethecompanycouldanalyzetherelationshipbetweeneachproduct’ssalesandweatherpatterns.Itisevenpossibletoanalyzeanindividualcustomer’sbuyinghabitsandidentifyinstanceswhenacustomermaybepersuadedtotryadifferentbrandofacertainproduct. SupposeyouhavebeenaskedtostudythissituationandsuggestpossiblenewandinnovativeusesfortheinformationgeneratedbythePOSsystem.IdeallytheseideasshouldhelpAlliancebetterserveitscustomersbyensuringthatadequatequantitiesofeachitemareavailablethatcostsarekeptlowandthatcustomersaremadeawareofnewproductsthatmayinterestthem. Read the Alliance […]