IT Infrastructure in Retail IndustryPresented By

-Dhananjay Anumandla- Shaunak Sontakke

Topics CoveredIntroductionIT Infrastructure for Big BazaarNetwork DesignIntranet AppsInternet AppsRFID for Big BazaarSOA for Big BazaarCloud for Big BazaarGrid Computing for Big Bazaar

IntroductionBig Bazaar was launched in September, 2001 Big Bazaar is a chain of hypermarket in India. As

of June 2, 2012 there are 214 stores across 90 cities and towns in India covering around 16 million sq.ft. of retail space. Big Bazaar is designed as an agglomeration of bazaars or Indian markets with clusters offering a wide range of merchandise including fashion and apparels, food products, general merchandise, furniture, electronics, books, fast food and leisure and entertainment sections.

Big Bazaar is part of Future Group, it was started by Kishore Biyani, the Group CEO and Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail India.

IT Infrastructure for BusinessSmarter software is the muscle behind IT

solutions for Big BazaarTogether with comprehensive technology and

cost-effective methodologies, help Big Bazaar thrive in the fast-paced global economy and help them to: Deliver a smarter shopping experience: Increase

brand equity, improve customer loyalty, and boost profits

Build smarter operations: Retain the best employees, increase productivity, and streamline processes

Create smarter merchandising and supply networks: Share information, synchronize activities, and work more efficiently.

IT Infra projects for BusinessHelps Communication: Communication within the

organization can be faster with the use of software like Lotus Notes. Retail stores can also communicate with each other and with the warehouses. This can be done 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) can also be used for communication with suppliers and vendors.

Collection of Data: Data can be collected about consumers, their purchases the frequency of their buying and the typical basket size. This information helps the retailer distinguish the customers who shops at his store frequently and also reward them. For example information gathered about a customer may reveal preferences for certain brands; this may be used for further communication with the customer regarding promotional offers etc.

StoreWarehouse

Store

Store

Warehouse

Datacenter

DR Datacenter

All Branches / Retail Stores

Web Server

DNS Server

ProxyServer

Application Server

Application Server

Application Server

Router

Firewall

Switch

Web Server

DNS Server

ProxyServer

Application Server

Application Server

Application Server

Router

Firewall

Switch

Leased lines

Leased linesLeased lines

Leased lines

Private Cloud

Big Bazaar Network Design

Intranet and ApplicationsFront end Applications for employees use like,

Billing software, Stock/Inventory,SalesMailing system

These applications help management at each store in tracking Stock of all products, procuring products when reached re-order level to avoid stock out situations

Also helps management in making Sales reports as and when required like daily/weekly/monthly/yearly etc.

These applications also helps higher management to track sales based on each store at all locations across India, which helps them to concentrate on stores/locations where there is high profitability/growth etc.

InternetA public website helps people aware of the Big Bazaar store, find store locationknow products availableonline purchase of products for home

deliverygive feedback

ITIL for Big BazaarThe Information Technology Infrastructure

Library (ITIL) is a set of practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business

ITIL describes procedures, tasks and checklists that are not organization-specific, used by an organization for establishing a minimum level of competency. It allows the Big Bazaar to establish a baseline from which it can plan, implement, and measure. It is used to demonstrate compliance and to measure improvement in IT Services.

This ensures 24*7 hrs uptime of IT services, minimizing any downtime required for any system or IT service upgradation.

ITIL for Big Bazaar

RFID for Big BazaarIn 2005, Future Group Initiates the implementation of SAP

and pilots a RFID project at its central warehouse in Tarapur Largest RFID implementation mandate in AsiaThe investment in the RFID technology, close to Rs 200

crore, will be made through Future Knowledge Services (FKS) (another Future Group company).

Almost 1 million Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) out of a total of 3 million will be tagged with RFID chips.

The company has fixed a price band of Rs 400 and above for all commodities which will be tagged over a period of one year.

It will help the company to track inventory, automate billing and reduce thefts

RFID Demo Video

Play

Benefits of RFID to Big BazaarAll pallets and boxes are having RFID. It helps checking

material has gone missing during the transportAuto checking of correct boxes into correct vehicles with the

help of RFID. Alarm users if wrong loading is done.Helps identification of product movement. Identify which

products moves faster on Friday or WednesdayHelps in calculating stocks16% reduction in product stockouts since adoption of RFID.RFID equipped shops are 63% more efficient in replenishing

out-of-stock items.Out-of-stock items are replenished 3 times faster with RFID.Cost of excess inventory was reduced by more than 10%

SOA for Big BazaarSOA delivers measurable benefits in today’s

demanding retail environmentEnables our retail outlets to quickly adopt more

profitable business models, such as SKU rationalization, revenue optimization, self-serve kiosks, e-Commerce and consumer-direct selling

Supports the close integration of POS, store portals, labour management systems, RFID, security and infrastructure systems

Reduces the cost, complexity and need for process oriented software customization, while minimizing the cost of subsequent integrations

SOA for Big BazaarEncourages maximum reuse of business logic

and services across retail processesSupports an IT approach that cuts across silo

applications, supports closer integration with retail trading partners and fosters more responsive, optimized operations

Provides true platform independence, scalability, reuse and encapsulation to minimize impact of change, standards, XML, etc

Cloud for Big BazaarMainly uses SAAS and IAAS

SAAS Solutions for Big BazaarMerchandising

Send exactly the right merchandise to the right store Track the status of all merchandise through shipping,

receiving, and distribution Allocate items directly to your stores using a fully

integrated Allocation and Replenishment module to balance both merchandise plans and store-level sales activity.

StoreCRMAudit and Operations ManagementPlanningCore Financials

Challenges overcome by SaasSOA and SaaS concepts allows major cost reduction to Big BazaarUpfront investment - The cost of the central system is usually not

directly proportional to the number of stores, weighing more on small or new chains.

Deployment cost - Traditional software must be installed and maintained by competent technicians travelling from store to store with high cost and limited peak capacity. Also, remote maintenance over the Internet is usually done one store at a time.

Data-sharing difficulties - It is quite easy to share data with HQ, but complex to do with third parties—such as independent logistics, product catalogues, and market analysis—or when exchanging customer data with other non-competing chains for joint-loyalty programs.

Cost of new software - feature implementation—The new feature, even if already available, must be bought and deployed over some test stores. If acceptable, the general deployment cannot be immediate.

Grid Computing for Big Bazaar

Grid Computing for Big BazaarEnormous amount of data.To create intelligence from the data, huge processing power is

requiredNeed Business Analytics to understand, analyze and solve

business related issuesWorkload management and prioritizationGovernance of the entire IT environmentOptimized performance across all business processesWith grid computing and SAS applications, Business Analytics

are done faster, better and cheaper It distributes computing-intensive SAS application across

hardware resources across Big BazaarGrid computing provides parallelization of Business Analytics

job for improved performance.