KX parent First Derivatives plc has announced that it has entered the retail analytics market, using its KX technology as a platform to develop solutions under a team of recently recruited leading retail technology specialists. The move opens up an addressable opportunity which, according to MarketsandMarkets, is expected to grow at 19% per annum to be valued at more than $5 billion per annum in 2020.

The explosion of data volumes in the retail industry is driving demand for technologies that can provide real-time analysis, which KX, with its pedigree in handling the most demanding data challenges in capital markets, is ideally placed to meet. FD has demonstrated the capabilities of KX to a number of leading retailers across various market segments and as a result has identified an attractive range of solutions delivering high return on investment for prospective retail customers. These solutions include analytics combining streaming and historical data around point of sale, inventory control and planning, loss prevention and customer insights. KX’s ultra-high performance, enhanced by predictive analytics and machine learning capabilities, provides the ideal next generation platform for retail analytics.

To deliver this opportunity FD has recruited a team of leading retail technology specialists headed by Damon Bryan, Peter Denby and Thomas Hill, who have held senior leadership positions at leading retailers including Asda and Walmart and consumer brands such as Sky. Their experience includesthe creation of innovative data-driven solutions that have delivered operational efficiencies and competitive advantage across multiple industries.

FD intends to develop solutions that will focus on analysing large volumes of data in real time to allow instant decision making that supports the customer and provides operational efficiencies, as well as allowing business units to make more profitable decisions and provide an organisation-wide view of performance across multiple business units.

Damon Bryan commented: “There is more data than ever in retail and this is growing as the industry becomes technology and multi-channel focused, but many retailers are still struggling to realise the full potential value through genuine, simple and executable solutions. KX’s ability to deal with huge volumes of data takes the art of what is possible to the next level. Combining KX with our proven retail analytics solutions and expertise will provide incremental value in areas such as merchandising, marketing and operational optimisation to deliver huge and immediate value to retailers.”

Brian Conlon, Chief Executive Officer of FD, commented: “We are confident that the market-leading performance of our technology has the capability to disrupt a number of markets, of which retail is one that we consider to be sufficiently attractive to develop our own solutions. Combining the power of KX with the deep domain expertise of Peter, Thomas and Damon will enable us to quickly develop and market solutions that we believe leading retailers will find compelling.”