Business Intelligence, the collection and analysis of large quantities of data, may hold the key to improving retail sales.

Retail management software can be used to collect and store data about customers – what they buy, how much they spend, whether they take part in sales or loyalty programs, and more. Online stores can do the same with the right ecommerce software, tracking how shoppers arrive at their site, how much time they spend on different pages and the rate of cart abandonment at the point of sale, among other information.

The global retail industry is investing more in BI, as the latest report from Research and Markets showed that the market for global BI in the retail industry is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 9.19 percent between 2013 and 2018. The growth is attributed mainly to retailers' ability to gather more information and the consequent increase in the volume and variety of data.

Ecommerce and POS software can collect data, but it only becomes useful when it can be visualized as part of the big picture. This is where BI comes in. Analyzing this information can help retailers make more informed decisions concerning when to hold sales, which items to mark down, where to advertise and more.