martin super store lcc, usa

Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Company Background.......................................................................................................................2
1.2 Problem Statement...........................................................................................................................2
1.3 Data Analytics Software....................................................................................................................2
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...................................................................................................................2
2.1. Business Intelligence........................................................................................................................2
2.2. Relevant Models..............................................................................................................................3
3. DATA ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................................................3
4. CRITICAL ANALYSIS.................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Addressing Inventory Management Challenges...............................................................................7
1.2 Justification of Design Choices..........................................................................................................8
5. CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................8
6. RECOMMENDATIONS.............................................................................................................................9
8. REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................10
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Company Background
Martin Superstore Chain LLC was started in 1998 and is a leading retail chain in the USA,
having its office in Chicago, Illinois. In the last 26 years of its operation, the firm has opened its
outlets nationwide, with over 200 outlets and millions of customers visiting annually. Products
Martin Superstore sells are food items, electronics, clothes, household utensils, and many others.
The target market that the company has adopted is the one-stop shopping concept, where
customers can get all their household needs from the company. A truly vast loyalty program,
attractive prices, and constant sales are essential in customer value perception. It is, therefore, the
availability, accessibility, and efficiency of its operating model that is deeply embedded in
Martin Superstore’s management thinking and execution activities regarding supply chain,
employee, and technological improvement. Currently, the company has a human resource of
more than 20,000 employees to meet each of the customers’ needs and oversee stores’
operations. Martin Superstore has unique and original quality products and impeccable customer
relations, hence its popularity in America and other countries. This is an overview of the
company’s strategic objectives, which focus on offering shoppers an unmatched shopping
experience regarding product varieties, price and customer service (Brynjolfsson, 2011).

1.2 Problem Statement

All the same, Martin Superstore has an inventory management problem. Due to problems such as
regular out-of-stock positions on fast-moving consumer products and overstock positions for
slower-moving products, customer effects and holding costs have been realized (Rivera, 2015).
This situation creates a perfect chance to use business intelligence and data analytics to manage
stock and have the right products in the right quantity at appropriate times, increasing
organizational productivity and customer satisfaction.
1.3 Data Analytics Software
This analysis will therefore seek to evaluate a business intelligence and data analysis solution
that will solve the inventory management problems in Martin Superstore. This will also require
formulating a performance report as a dashboard to show current stock, sales, and suppliers for
better decisions and stock management.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1. Business Intelligence
Data analysis is a comprehensive area that uses various analyzing methods and tools to gain
remarkable experiences from data. It has descriptive analytics that refers to analyzing historical
data and coming up with a summary of what has occurred. Predictive analytics uses statistical
tools and machine learning methods to make future assumptions from past events. In a way,
prescriptive analytics builds on the detection made by predictive analytics by suggesting what
should be done about it. These techniques are instrumental in organizations such as Martin
Superstore Chain LLC, as they contribute toward effective business management by
incorporating data in achieving various set organizational goals and objectives (Shanks, 2012).
2.2. Relevant Models
Balanced Scorecard: The Balanced Scorecard is a strategic management technique used to
focus business activities on the vision and strategy of the organization. It covers four critical
perspectives: Financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning and growth. Thus,
using the Balanced Scorecard could be beneficial for such a business as Martin Superstore in
terms of providing the tools for aligning inventory management goals with the overall business
goals and objectives. Such values include inventory turnover and holding costs, availability of
stocks and customers’ satisfaction, order fulfillment time, and learning to use continuous
improvement strategies that the company should use to create well-balanced inventory
management (Gross, 2014).
Entity Relationship Modeling (ERM): ERM stands for enhanced relational model, which is an
approach with the help of which the interconnectivity of data entities in a database can be
depicted. ERM may help Martin Superstore identify a suitable template for developing an
optimally efficient database. In other words, if a company wants to orient its data architecture to
the requirements of analysis, it needs to know about such relationships as products – suppliers –
and sales transactions. This may help make extensive reports and graphic interfaces frequently
presenting the state of inventories, sales, and suppliers (Gawankar, 2012).
Performance Management Systems (PMS): Performance Management Systems are used to
formulate and evaluate performance targets within the business strategies. Regarding making
proper distributions for a store like Martin Superstore, a PMS can identify various real-time
measures or values of stock turn and stockout, frequency and supplier delivery. The
interpretation of these measures implies that the company monitors them regularly and can detect
deviations from the planned values and correct them. For instance, a high frequency of stock out
may lead to a rethink of forecast techniques or the reliability of the supply partner (Nørreklit,
2014).

3. DATA ANALYSIS
Sales By Segment
The pie chart shows the sales by segment. It shows 3 segments: consumer, corporate and home office.
Consumer sales are the lowest sales segment, which is 28%; corporate sales are 35%, and the home
office is the highest sales, which is 37%. This means that Martin LCC's target customers are home office
and corporate because their sales go higher than consumer

Payment Methods
Analyzing the pie chart, it will be easier to understand various aspects of sales distribution
through different payment modes at Martin Superstore Chain LLC. However, it is worth noticing
that COD remains the most popular payment system, with a majority of sales at 60%. This is
probably because customers feel protected by paying only after receiving the ordered goods. The
phenomenon of online payments makes up 32% of total sales, which indicates that many
consumers are ready for such transactions and are using banking and Internet technologies,
including electronic wallets, due to the development of the online market. The sales through
cards, such as credit and debit, make up about 8% of the total sales as customers find card
payments more manageable and sometimes come with extra reward/cashback offers.
Sales By Region
Martin Superstore Chain LLC's sales breakdown by region was provided through the pie chart,
which shows that 100 percent of the sales were recorded from the Central region only. This
means the data presented or analyzed is for only the Central region; the firm’s operations are
constricted or situated in the Central region only, or the data set is restricted to analyze or capture
only the Central region sales. This is perhaps because the company may have all its stores and
operations in this region, or in other words, data from the different areas might not have been
compiled or recorded. If the latter is true, then Martin Superstore must collect all the operational
regions’ data for a comparison of their performance and to discover new locations or better
strategies for improvement in the other areas.

Sales By Products
The

following bar graph gives the Martin Superstore Chain LLC sales analysis by product
subcategories. The above statistics show subcategory phones are the most popular, with four
phones sold. 4K, thus suggesting that there is an excellent market for mobile phones, possibly
attributed to technological changes, enhanced smartphone uptake and consumers’ ability to
upgrade their phones frequently. Paper is the second most popular sub-sector with a total sales
amount of $ 2 out of $ 10. 4K indicates a very active market in paper products, primarily for
printing, writing, and office requirements. As for tables, they contribute a sales amount of 1.
2,800 with a KDP value of 8K, which suggests moderate usage of all tables across homes,
offices, and other places. Again, storage products recorded a total sale amount of 1. 5K,
consisting of cabinets, shelves, and containers, which correspond to the requirements for storage,
which is essential both in the household and office. Supplies is the least selling sub-category of
the consumables’ total sales, with a total sale amount of 0. 3K, containing a range of small office
products, supplies and accessories which, although essential, do not establish huge turnover
compared to other sub-categories.

Sales By Product Category

Attached to the presentation is a bar chart assuming the sales ratio of Martin Superstore Chain
LLC per product type. The prominent subcategory of Workplace Products is Office Supplies,
with a total sales figure of 9. 5K. This category encompasses writings such as paper, pen, binder,
and others, suggesting a massive market for business and individual clients using these gadgets
in their undertakings. A closer look at the total sales shows that furniture has the second highest
sales with 8. 3K. This category possibly contains office furniture, such as desks, chairs,
cupboards, and home furniture. A large number of sales, at least, indicates constant market
demand for both office and home furniture, perhaps because of the creation of ergonomically
friendly office spaces and home office furniture. A comparative analysis of the technology
product shows that the total sales amount is 6. 0K, becoming the third bestselling category. This
category includes desktops, notebooks, peripherals, and other related gadgets. The sales figures
are, therefore, indicative of the necessity of technology in business and people’s everyday lives
due to the emergence of technology-related devices and apparatus.
4. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
4.1 Addressing Inventory Management Challenges
Inventory Optimization: An inefficient inventory management system, as evident from the
case, is one of the significant issues that Martin Superstore deals with as it results in the stockout
of fast-moving items and the problem of high stock of slow-moving items. The dashboard
solution meets this challenge by incorporating bar and line charts showing inventory statuses,
sale rates, and previous or following stockout instances. For example, in the “Sales by Sub-
Category” chart, phones are the highest-selling sub-category, with a 4. 4K. This insight enables
the inventory managers to balance stock so there will be no stock out. Following the same aspect,
the sales of supplies stand at 0. 3K shows that it is possible to minimize the holding costs by
purchasing small supplies (Russom, 2012).
Seasonal and Promotional Planning: The dashboard is used thus to determine the seasonal
aspect and effectiveness of promotional campaigns. Its historical sales analysis maps out periods
of variability, especially during the end of the holiday season, when there is an immense flow of
volume coupled with large sums of business. This means that based on this insight, the company
can order inventory sufficiently in advance to make such items available when there is high
demand (Srinivasa, 2012). Moreover, understanding the consequences of promotions can be
realized based on evaluating the sales performance before, during, and after carrying out
promotions, thus allowing for effective data-driven promotion. For instance, the monthly sales
volume increases in April 2019 and December 2019 imply that promotional activities were
carried out during these months.
Segment Analysis: The position of the ‘Sales by Segment’ in the automobile cycle shows that
the Home Office has the highest sales share of 37% while the Corporate one has 35% and the
Consumer one has 28%. This segmentation makes the company targeting specific because it
develops its marketing strategies and products about each segment’s requirements. For example,
the increased popularity of products in the Home Office segment means targeting the population
with ergonomic furniture and office accessories. On the other hand, the corporate segment might
use the Company’s opportunity to buy in large quantities or avail of corporate rates. Knowledge
of these segments enables the firm to direct its resources better and create suitable marketing
strategies (Kaplan, 2004).
Payment Mode Preferences: We learn from the ‘’Sales by Payment Mode’’ chart that 60
percent of sales are made through cash on delivery, only 32 percent are made online, and 8
percent through cards. From this data, we obtained strong endorsement for the COD, so the
management needs to implement good cash management practices. The following incentive can
be adopted: the company offers some bonus for paying digitally, including online and through
cards. Payment preference also enables the company to optimize its payment methods and
improve the quality of its customers' payment services (Barry, 2021).
Regional Sales Distribution: Concerning the “Sales by Region” chart, it can be observed that
all the sales data provided refers to the Central region. While this gives a niche analysis of the
company's performance in this particular aspect, it shows the need to extend the gathering of this
data to other areas. If the company retrieves and analyzes sales information from different
regions, it will be possible to get a broad picture of the business and the opportunities for further
expansion. This regional analysis can help in decision-making regarding the choice of store
locations, marketing and distribution of its inventory (Torano, 2014).
1.2 Justification of Design Choices
The decisions on the dashboard's appearance are explained with the help of the main goals, such
as simplicity, coverage, and effectiveness. Along with the bar chart, line chart, pie chart and
other graphical techniques, the structural positioning, font style, and quality of colors make it
easier for the managers and other decision-makers to understand the facts and figures without
consulting a statistician and provide a total picture of sales records and stock position. Customer
segments, payment modes, regions, and product categories help to present the processes
happening within the company on the dashboard; this enables the management to create
necessary strategic actions based on the market and customer needs. The design methodology
aims at bringing out patterns, trends, and outliers about the business, including the identified
vital information about the increasingly common Home Office market of products and
consumers’ general favor towards COD payments, so that managers can promptly act on it to
gain maximum advantage (Norreklit, 2000).

5. CONCLUSION
The development of a BI and data analytics-oriented system for the analyzed case, Martin
Superstore Chain LLC, bears significant results in examining the company's sales output factor
and identifying its consumers' optimal time and preferences to make precise inventory
management decisions. In this regard, the issues of ineffective inventory management,
fluctuations in demand for products depending on the season, and customer classification have
been solved with the help of data visualization in the form of an interactive and real-time
dashboard. Fresh understandings have been gained on sales segmentation, payment modes,
regions, and product classifications, leading to policy making and planning. Hence, by the easily
accessible interface, using a large amount of data covering various spheres and offering specific
recommendations for managers’ actions, the dashboard enhances the idea of how the given data
should be used for the business’s development and optimization.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

 Make provision for integrating current data for their constant monitoring in real-
time basins.
 Collect data from all operational regions to enhance the model’s robustness.
 Make use of predictive analysis tools to estimate consumer demand and
consequently adapt inventory.
 Create specific promotional campaigns that should be aimed at the segments the
customers belong to.
 To increase customers' footfall, it is advised to provide some allure for opting for
online or card transactions.
 Ensure that training is done before and after the implementation of the system.
 It is necessary to continuously check the effectiveness of the systems put in place
and always integrate the user's feedback for better modification of the systems.
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