03/11/2009

By Scott Thompson

JD Sports Fashion has selected software from SPSS to enhance store sales forecasting as it continues to grow its network of stores across the UK.

The sports retailer will be using IBM SPSS Modeler to make informed decisions about key factors such as store location, customer demographics, brand and product mix. Alastair Browne, site research and development manager at JD Sports Fashion, says: "As demonstrated by the group's performance over the last four years, the sales forecasting techniques currently employed by the business have been very successful. However, given the national coverage of our store portfolio and the varying demands of the consumer, we now feel the requirement to segment our stores more effectively and develop a series of more detailed models using IBM SPSS Modeler to optimise sales forecasting, and understand the potential impact on our existing store network."

"The technology offers us a wide variety of tools that allows us to undertake a much greater level of data interrogation, providing real insight into the wide range of variables that influence store performance and helping us make key decisions about our future store strategy," he adds.