Retail Case Study

Assuming that we work in the headquarters

of a large grocery chain. Our business has
100 grocery stores spread over a five-state
area. Each of the stores has a full
complement of departments, including
grocery, frozen foods, dairy, meat, produce
bakery, floral, and health/beauty aids.

Retail Case Study (contd)

Each store has roughly 60,000 individual
products on its shelves. The individual
products are called stock keeping units
(SKUs). About 55,000 of the SKUs come from
outside manufacturers and have bar codes
imprinted on the product package.
These bar codes are called universal product
codes (UPCs). UPCs are at the same grain as
individual SKUs. Each different package variation
of a product has a separate UPC and hence is a
separate SKU.

Data Collection
Data is collected at several interesting places in
a grocery store. Some of the most useful data is
collected at the cash registers as customers
purchase products.
Our modern grocery store scans the bar codes
directly into the point-of-sale (POS) system.
The POS system is at the front door of the
grocery store where consumer takeaway is
measured. The back door, where vendors make
deliveries, is another interesting data-collection
point.

Management Concerns
Logistics of ordering
Stocking
Selling of products while maximizing profit
Effects of Promotions

Step1: Select Business Process

The Business process we will model from

the retail description is the POS retail sales

Step 2: Declare the grain

In our case study, the most granular data is
an individual line item on a transaction.

Step 3: Choose the Dimensions

The date dimension
The product dimension
The store dimensions

Step 4: Identify the Facts

The facts collected by the POS system
Include:
the sales quantity (e.g., the number
of cans of milk)
per unit sales price
the sales dollar amount
dollar cost for product

Measured facts in the retail sales

schema
DateDimension
Date Key (PK)
Date Attributes TBD

StoreDimension
Store Key (PK)
Store Attributes TBD

POSRetail SalesTransaction Fact

Date Key (FK)
Product Key (FK)
Store Key (FK)
Promotion (FK)
POS Transaction Number
Sales Quantity
Sales Dollar Amount
Cost Dollar Amount
Gross Profit Dollar Amount

Product Dimension
Product Key (PK)
Product Attributes TBD

Promotion Dimension
Promotion Key (PK)
Promotion Attributes TBD

Date Dimension
Date Key (PK)
DateFull Date Description
Day of WeekDay Number in Epoch
Week Number in Epoch
Month Number in Epoch
Day Number in Calender Month
Day Number in Calender Year
Day Number in Fiscal Month
Last Day in Week Indicator
Last Day in Month Indicator
Calender Week Ending Date
Calender Week Number in Year
Calender Month Name
Calender Month Number in Year
Calender Year-Month (YYYY-MM)
Calender Quarter
Calender Year-Quarter
Calender Half Year
Calender Year
Fiscal Week
Fiscal Week Number in Year
Fiscal Month
Fiscal Month Number in Year
Fiscal Year-Month
Fiscal Quarter
Fiscal Year-Quarter
Fiscal Half Year
Fiscal Year
Holiday Indicator
Weekday Indicator
Selling SeasonMajor EventSQL Date Stamp.

Date Dimension Table detail

Date
Key
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Date
01/01/2002
01/02/2002
01/03/2002
01/04/2002
01/05/2002
01/06/2002
01/07/2002
01/08/2002

Full Date
Description
January 1, 2002
January 2, 2002
January 3, 2002
January 4, 2002
January 5, 2002
January 6, 2002
January 7, 2002
January 8, 2002

Calendar
Day of Week Month
Tuesday
January
Wednesday January
Thursday
January
Friday
January
Saturday
January
Sunday
January
Monday
January
Tuesday
January

Calendar
Year
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002

Fiscal YearMonth
F2002-01
F2002-01
F2002-01
F2002-01
F2002-01
F2002-01
F2002-01
F2002-01

Holiday
Indicator
Holiday
Non-Holiday
Non-Holiday
Non-Holiday
Non-Holiday
Non-Holiday
Non-Holiday
Non-Holiday

Weekday
Indicator
Weekday
Weekday
Weekday
Weekday
Weekend
Weekend
Weekday
Weekday

Product Dimension
Product Key (PK)
Product Description
SKU Number (Natural Key)
Brand Description
Category Description
Department Description
Package Type Description
Package Size
Fat Content
Diet Type
WeightWeight
Units of Measure
Storage Type
Shelf Life Type
Shelf Width
Shelf Height
Shelf Depth
and more

Product Dimension Table detail

Product
Key

Product Description

Brand
Description

Category
Description

Department
Description

Fat Content

Baked Well Light Sourdough Fresh Bread

Baked Well

Bread

Bakery

Reduced Fat

Fluffy Sliced Whole Wheat

Fluffy

Bread

Bakery

Regular Fat

Fluffy Light Sliced Whole Wheat

Fluffy

Bread

Bakery

Reduced Fat

Fat Free Mini Cinnamon Rolls

Light

Sweeten Bread

Bakery

Non-Fat

Diet Lovers Vanilla 2 Gallon

Coldpack

Frozen Desserts

Frozen Foods

Non-Fat

Light and Creamy Butter Pecan 1 Pint

Freshlike

Frozen Desserts

Frozen Foods

Reduced Fat

Chocolate Lovers Gallon

Frigid

Frozen Desserts

Frozen Foods

Regular Fat

Strawberry Ice Creamy 1 Pint

Icy

Frozen Desserts

Frozen Foods

Regular Fat

Icy Ice Cream Sandwiches

Icy

Frozen Desserts

Frozen Foods

Regular Fat

Store Dimension
Store Key (PK)
Store Name
Store Number (Natural
Key)
Store Street Address
Store City
Store Country
Store State
Store Zip Code
Store Manager
Store District
Store Region
Floor Plan Type
Photo Processing Tpe
Financial Service Type
Selling Square Footage
Total Square Footage
First Open Date
Last Remodel Date
and more

Retail Schema
Product Dimension
Product Key (PK)
Product Description
SKU Number (Natural Key)
Brand Description
Category Description
Department Description
Package Type Description
Package Size
Fat Content
Diet Type
Weight
Weight Units of Measure
Storage Type
Shelf Life Type
Shelf Width
Shelf Height
Shelf Depth
and more

Date Dimension
POS Retail Sales
Transaction Fact
Date Key (FK)
Product Key (FK)
Store Key (FK)
Promotion Key (FK)
POS Transaction Number
Sales Quantity
Sales Dollar Amount
Cost Dollar Amount
Gross Profit Dollar Amount

Store Dimension
Promotion Dimension

Sales Dollar Amount and Quantity by Department Report

Report