Management Information Systems 14e
KENNETH C. LAUDON AND JANE P. LAUDON

CHAPTER 6
CASE 2

SUMMARY
URL

CASE

FOUNDATIONS OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE: DATABASES AND INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT

Data Warehousing at REI: Understanding the Customer

REI uses IBM data warehousing technology to achieve its vision of understanding what its customers want, and how they want to interact with the company. L= 4:39. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KEkA3O784s Systems

REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) is an American consumers’ cooperative that sells outdoor recreation gear and sporting goods via the Internet, catalogs, and over 120 stores in 29 states. It opens six to eight new stores each year. Its major competitors in the U.S. include many other sporting goods retailers. REI is the largest consumer co-op in the United States.
A consumer’s cooperative is a business owned by its customers for their mutual benefit.
The goal of a co-op is to sell quality goods and services at the lowest cost to its consumers, as opposed to the traditional model of selling goods and services at the highest cost that consumers are willing to pay. However, a co-op is no different from traditional firms in the following regard: databases and information management still play key roles in efficiency and strong customer service and are critical to the company’s bottom line.
There is a one-time fee of $20 for lifetime membership to REI. The company normally pays an annual dividend check to its members equal to 10% of what they spent at REI on regularpriced merchandise in the prior year, although this is not guaranteed. The refund, which expires on December 31 two years from the date of issue, can be used as credit for further

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CHAPTER 6, CASE 2 DATA WAREHOUSING AT REI: UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMER

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purchases or taken as cash or check between July 1 and