As in many industry sectors, retailers want better business intelligence. According to the InformationWeek 500 survey, 40% of general merchandising retailers indicate tht the deployment of BI tools represents one of the most effective enhancements of productivity that managers in their organizations have made in the past 12 months.

All retailers in the InformationWeek 500 say BI tools are being deployed on a limited or widespread basis across their organizations, And 40% of general merchandisers and 25% of specialty retailers expect to see the delivery of better business intelligence to more employees more quickly in 2008. There's clearly an affinity for such technology in the industry sector.

BI tools are helping retailers assess the effectiveness of promotional campaigns. George Lawrie, principal analyst at Forrester Research, says retailers have been working with vendors including TR3 Solutions and Informatica to normalize data so it can be more easily shared across business groups and to analyze the effectiveness of TV ads.

"For high-touch retailing such as apparel and furniture, the No. 1 issue is enabling consumer interactions across channels," he says. "In consumer packaged goods and grocery, it's about promotions--planning and executing them more effectively."

Industry Snapshot: Retail: General Merchandising

Industry Snapshot: Retail: Specialty Merchandising