Brisbane commercial mathematics company, Biarri has developed software which enables retailers to optimise crucial sales decisions, in a timely boost for Boxing Day sales.

Cutting-edge methods analyse historical data to sharpen traditional ‘gut-feel’ decisions, fostering greater sales and creating a win-win for businesses and consumers.

“Our tool helps organisations understand the demand for products with unusual, spiky or high volumes at different price points,” Biarri co-CEO, Evan Shellshear said.

“It allows retailers to choose the right price points to make sure those goods go out the door when they need to. Our data tools work hand-in-hand with the sales managers. We build algorithms that then allows them to add value where they add value, rather than having their time taken up by manual and rudimentary tasks that can be automated.”

Among those utilising Biarri’s software is Super Retail Group (SRG), parent company of Rebel Sport, BCF and Supercheap Auto.

“The big questions during a clearance for brands like Rebel Sport are: how much should we mark down? When should we mark down? What should we mark down?” Shellshear said.

“We help provide answers to those key critical questions, and answers that we can show are the best possible. Our software helps automate that process and assist retailers to make much better decisions and get new goods through to the store.”

SRG general manager of financial planning, analysis and pricing, Brett Gibson said adopting Biarri’s mathematical model had led to a profitable outcome, allowing Rebel to achieve greater GP dollars while maintaining or improving the sell-through rate.

“By moving to a data-driven approach, we were able to look at the price elasticity of the articles, the actual clearance and sell-through rate and the time at which we wanted to clear stock, it improved the scale and speed of prices we were able to do, and the effectiveness of those markdowns,” he said.

“It also made our ability to clear lines more efficient and more effective, plus freed up staff to do more value-adding activities and improve engagement with the rest of the organisation.”