Do It Best Group’s New Retail Pulse Helps Retailers Turn Data Into Direction

Why It Matters

The solution gives small‑format retailers the analytics depth of national chains, driving margin improvement and faster, data‑backed decisions in a tightening market.

Key Takeaways

• Retail Pulse converts POS data into actionable recommendations.
• Peer groups are built on store size and market.
• Platform targets pricing, inventory, assortment, and promotions.
• Field teams deliver insights directly during store visits.
• Ongoing AI enhancements will sharpen recommendations over time.

Pulse Analysis

Independent home‑improvement dealers have long struggled to turn raw point‑of‑sale information into strategic guidance. Unlike large chains, they lack dedicated data‑science resources and often rely on static reports that only explain past performance. Do it Best Group’s Retail Pulse addresses this gap by consolidating each member’s sales, margins, inventory turns and purchasing history with network‑wide data from over a thousand locations. The platform then translates the aggregated information into a concise, store‑specific dashboard, giving owners a real‑time view of how they stack up against truly comparable peers. This shift from descriptive to prescriptive analytics is reshaping the cooperative model.

Retail Pulse’s analytical engine builds peer groups on concrete criteria—store size, regional market, and product mix—ensuring that comparisons feel relevant rather than generic. The system then flags gaps in pricing, inventory productivity, assortment depth and promotional effectiveness, offering concrete actions such as price adjustments, SKU rationalization or targeted markdowns. Crucially, the insights are not left on a screen; territory sales managers bring a tablet into the store, walk the dealer through the findings and co‑create an implementation plan on the spot. Early adopters report faster decision cycles, reduced stock‑outs, and margin lifts of 2‑4 % within weeks.

The launch arrives as the hardware sector faces tighter margins and intensified competition from big‑box and e‑commerce players. By democratizing advanced analytics, Do it Best positions its cooperative members to compete on price, assortment and service quality without heavy IT investments. The roadmap includes AI‑driven trend detection, automated recommendation refinement and deeper integration with vendor promotions, promising even sharper insight as the data pool expands. If the platform scales as envisioned, it could become a benchmark for other retail cooperatives seeking to empower independent stores with the same strategic intelligence that fuels national chains.