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Operations · Store benchmarking
How to benchmark retail stores fairly
Fair store benchmarking compares each store with stores of a similar size, format and location, on sales, margin contribution, basket size and customer behavior. 11Ants keeps these comparisons current automatically. Ask Ant how a store compares and it shows where the store leads, where it lags, and how much closing the gap to its peers would be worth.
THE CHALLENGE
Why are store comparisons often misleading?
Comparing every store with the chain average makes big stores look good and small stores look bad. It hides the stores that are underperforming against their real peers.
Most benchmarking is a monthly manual exercise in a spreadsheet. By the time it’s done, the numbers are out of date.
THE SOLUTION
How does 11Ants benchmark stores?
Ask Ant how a store compares and it answers in plain English.
For regular benchmarking, the Store Benchmarking, Store Twin, Store Opportunity, Busy Times and Store Product Sales modules compare every store with its peers in depth.
Match similar stores
Store Twin groups each store with others of a similar profile.
Compare the key measures
Ant compares sales, margin contribution, customers, basket size and category mix across the peer group.
Show the opportunity
Store Opportunity values the gap between each store and its best peers.
Keep it current
Comparisons refresh daily, so benchmarks never go stale.
EXAMPLE QUESTION TO ASK ANT
QUESTION
Compare this store against similar stores and show where it is losing sales.
WHAT ANT RETURNS
[Insert a real Ant answer from demo data: the peer group, key measures against the peer average, and the value of the biggest gaps.]
See Ant benchmark a store
Jobs that took the whole day now only take a few minutes and a few clicks in 11Ants.
Luka Jalšovec
BI Project Manager, Mercator
What results do operations teams see?
Store benchmarking FAQ
What measures should you benchmark stores on?
The most useful measures are sales against last year and budget, margin contribution, customer count, basket size, category mix and sales per square foot. Comparing several measures at once shows why a store differs, not just that it does.
What is a store twin?
A store twin is a store with a similar profile to the one you’re analyzing. Comparing a store with its twins gives a fairer benchmark than the chain average. 11Ants’ Store Twin module finds them automatically.
How often are benchmarks updated?
11Ants refreshes data daily, so store comparisons are always current and don’t depend on a monthly manual exercise.
