BIG FAST

DATA

Kx for Retail Solutions

Kx has been the global software leader for

complex analytics on massive-scale

streaming data for over two decades. The

Kx technology is an established and

trusted standard for high frequency

trading, surveillance and research in

financial services.

Kx for Retail brings the power of this

cutting edge technology, combined with

true retail industry and analytical expertise

to help businesses unlock the full value of

their data through innovative but simple

and executable solutions.

ABOUT US

Kx is a division of First Derivatives plc. Listed on the London Stock

Exchange [FDP:LN] First Derivatives is a specialist software and

consulting organization with a uninterrupted track record of customer

success and profitable growth since it was listed in 2002.

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Transformation is sweeping the retail industry. Consumers today are

much better informed and more connected. They want mobile

shopping, personalized service and instant gratification. These

changes are giving rise to a host of innovations around omni-channel

retailing, mobile apps, customer data mining, responsive supply

chains and cutting-edge, in-store, self-help technologies.

The proliferation of technology in retail is now generating huge

amounts of data as retailing moves at an increasing velocity towards

omni-channel. Consumer interaction with a retail brand now spans

stores, ecommerce, mobile and social media. This change means

that the customer journey is now traceable across channels, and

with that comes the generation of vast quantities of Big Data. As a

result, data collection has now become key to all retailers.

As the number of interactions across multiple channels increases

(with the volume, the velocity and the variety of data sources all

expanding rapidly), so customer expectations of relevance and

personalization is also growing. Through eReceipts, mobile payment

and other @till technology, retailers are suddenly able to collect and

store customer data, that had historically only been available to

home shopping and digital retailers.

As we move in to a data rich omni-channel world, being able to

process large amounts of data in real time is becoming increasingly

important to retailers looking to stay ahead of the competition.

BIG DATA IN

RETAIL IS HERE…

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Retailers need to be focussed on evolving technology

and how it will deliver an improved customer proposition.

A foundation of data capability is critical to enable the

Big Data agenda. Retailers will need to build on existing

infrastructure in key areas such as Big Data and

analytics, in-store technology, and customer-facing

applications to take advantage of the vast data

generated by these devices. Retailers that adopt data

and technology to deliver their core brand proposition

will win.

THE BIG DATA REVOLUTION THOSE NOT REACHING FOR

THE SKY WILL BE LEFT BEHIND

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KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR

RETAILERS AND BIG DATA

// Agility There is a need to be

agile and move with new

technology as it is

developed. Retailers

need to adopt a cost

effective and flexible data

solution that can integrate

with new technologies.

Big costly and inflexible

enterprise solutions will

become less relevant.

Infrastructure-lite

solutions that deliver ease

and value to consumers

will become key.

// Compatibility Retailers will need to

think about the

compatibility of multiple

data warehouses from

different sources, and

how they integrate with

other applications. There

will be a need to process

data quickly to create

usable business

intelligence, and sync

immediately with

consumer facing

applications.

// Connectivity Solutions and data

interchanges that

optimize speed of

queries for real-time

analytics will become

key in delivering

services to customers.

Connectivity of this

data in a platform that

can truly manage the

scale and diversity of

data, whilst intelligently

processing in-to real-

time insight, will be

vital.

// Speed & Scale Real-time Big Data

management will become

increasingly important.

Real-time inventory

management, targeted

advertising with supplier

monetization will become

standard, along with

dynamic pricing based on

customer location and

demand. The ability to

perform complex

analytics and deploy

solutions in nanoseconds

will be the norm.

// Personalization The traditional advertising

model of ‘above the line’

to drive footfall, with in

store conversion, is no

longer relevant. Brands

now need to engage with

customers on a 1 on 1

level across multiple

channels. Data drives and

enables this. High street

retailers have not tended

to have or need this

experience or capability

in-house, and this is

where Kx can help.

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As retailers continue to collect more information, the technologies to support Big Data evolve. Born from capital markets where Big Data has been the norm for some time now, Kx is a data management and analytics platform for the modern era.

Key to leveraging Big Data in retail to lower costs or drive sales, is the ability to collect, store and integrate data with end user systems such as EPOS, mobile devices, or existing business systems. Kx technology lends itself to this perfectly, as it is able to take data feeds from multiple sources and formats and perform high speed analytics all in one stack. It also integrates seamlessly with applications allowing businesses to make real-time decisions and execute them on their website, a mobile device and on tills in stores. Performing analytics on real-time and historical data, processing queries, delivering results and feeding downstream applications requires an immediacy and agility that is often difficult to achieve.

Kx is agnostic and can easily integrate with existing systems, whether that be supply chain management, EPOS, or digital data. Kx enables retailers to process their customer data in real time, and as a result, use that information to drive better decision making and better, more optimized retail decisions. Retailers able to leverage more of their data, faster than their competitors, are the ones that will step ahead.

WHY Kx?

saves you time, money and drives improved ROI

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Kx TECHNOLOGY

ENABLES BIG

FAST DATA Scalable to tens of

terabytes of data with

no degradation in

query response times

Kx has a native 64-bit architecture that is

essential for real-time execution of customer

facing solutions using the massive amounts

of data created from retail data sources.

The basis for Kx Technology is a uniquely

integrated platform which includes a high-

performance historical time-series columnar

database called kdb+, an in-memory

compute engine, and a real-time streaming

processor, all unified with an expressive

query and programming language called q.

Designed from the start for extreme scale,

the kdb+ database has been proven

to solve complex problems faster

than any of its competitors.

Open architecture

simplifies integration

to new and varied

data sources, ideal for

retail

Supports multi-threaded time-series

analytics and aggregation queries

across many billions of rows of data

Historical databases allow users to

access terabytes of records in

seconds and is limited only by RAM

& disk capacity

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BIG DATA

ENTERPRISE

SOLUTIONS

Kx solutions are world renowned for industry leading, ultra-fast extreme performance Big Data technology, analytical tools and rich visualizations. Kx enables successful delivery of real-time, streaming and historical analysis through its technology: 1. Big Data Integration: A single view of your business and customer data – ease of integration with no need for major infrastructure projects, and ability to analyse hundreds of millions of records a second. 2. Analytics: Powerful analytics engine for intelligent data-driven recommendations – ability to analyse, develop statistical models and execute machine learning algorithms all in one system. 3. Velocity: Real-Time reporting and execution of models, algorithms and machine learning driven decisions making a full end to end service, or can integrate our technology with existing processes and partners.

REAL-TIME BI &

VISUALIZATION

PLATFORM

The first step in a retailer’s journey towards real-time Big Data, is being able to review all current and historical performance metrics immediately, and act upon the data. Kx deliver a platform to enable instant querying and decision-making: The Kx Real-Time BI hub can be deployed on your EPOS or sales platform, providing instant and real-time MI. Once in place, the real-time BI hub can then power real-time decision making using machine learning and algorithms to optimize retail decisions such as dynamic pricing, and supply chain management. Kx Dashboards deliver rich visualizations in HTML 5, and provide the capability to slice and dice your sales data with any variables such as region, store, customer segment, shopper missions and product categories. The in-memory processing delivered by Kx means queries take seconds to run, and unlock the power of your data.

Kx BIG FAST DATA SOLUTIONS

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‘IN ONE PLACE’

CONNECTED

DATA PLATFORM

Kx technology’s ability to integrate multiple data sources, and optimize through machine learning algorithms makes it ideal for connecting and automating data without the need for large scale infrastructure projects. Kx provides a cost effective solution enabling your business to have the best possible data for optimizing campaigns, that is easy to adopt and agile, allowing you to leverage new data sources as they arise. Kx is infrastructure lite and compatible with all key data sources.

• Kx can sit at any level of the tech stack designed to connect data and bring analytics in one place • Flexible to build on top of multiple types of databases, with data blending technology for internal and external data • Powerful predictive analytics at every level with easy to interpret outputs • Beautiful visualizations to bring data to life, and can integrate with existing BI tools & software

INTELLIGENT

ANALYTICS &

OPTIMIZATION

Kx deliver a number of solutions to help retailers deliver a more effective operating model. We deliver algorithm-led solutions across the following key areas: 1. Merchandizing & Range: Powerful range optimization tools to create actionable insights from basket data 2. Supply Chain: Assortment and supply chain optimization through real-time data insights & forecast optimization 3. Marketing Optimization: Harnessing connected data to build real-time marketing platforms for omni-channel strategies 4. Customer Analytics: Powerful customer journey analytics unlocking value through connected insights and data 4. Pricing & Promotion: Smart pricing algorithms and impact analysis built on usable technology

Kx BIG FAST DATA SOLUTIONS

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At Kx we recognize that the success of any technology

project is dependent on the business problem it solves.

We work with retailers to help them understand where they

are in their Big Data journey, and help deliver solutions that

drive genuine costs savings or sales increases.

Kx provide a clear framework to support understanding of future

and Big Data readiness built around our 3D Big Data principles:

Kx BIG DATA

CONSULTANCY

Kx for Retail sits perfectly in the middle of software &

solutions, advanced analytics and expert retail strategy. Our

working model can be scaled up from simply providing and

implementing technology solutions, through to fully mobilised

data scientists, dedicated to bringing your data to life.

1. Design Kx carry out a Big Data audit, reviewing retailers against

the market, and a health check on your current and future

data readiness. Outputs demonstrating areas of

opportunities and risks are presented with clear

recommendations.

2. Develop Development of a real-time Big Data platform that gives

instant access to all your data, delivering shopper mission

based insight and BI on key sales drivers

3. Deploy Kx deliver analytical solutions – tactical and strategic.

We have vast experience delivering marketing, customer,

product, price, range and supply chain analytics solutions.

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

Head Office

3 Canal Quay, Newry, BT35 6BP N. Ireland+44 (0)283 025 2242

London

Cannon Green Building, 1 Suffolk Lane, EC4R 0AY, UK +44 (0)207 337 1210

New York

45 Broadway, NY 10006 USA +1 (212) 447-6700

Singapore

One Raffles Quay,North Tower, #30-03048583, Singapore+65 6592 1960

Sydney

22 Pitt Street, NSW 2000 Australia +61 (02) 9236 5700

Toronto

31 Lakeshore Road East, Mississauga, On, L5G 4V5, Canada +1-289-329-0636

www.kx.com/solutions/retail

Leeds

Round Foundry MC, Foundry Street, Leeds LS11 5QP, UK +44 (0)113 394 4671

Email us: retail@kx.com