Business Driven Technology 6th Edition by Paige Baltzan

Exercise 67

The Value of Plastic
Accepting credit cards at Wendy's restaurants was a big decision facing corporate executives in early 2003. There was no doubt that customers would appreciate the convenience of plastic, but could this option hurt overall sales Wendy's executives decided that the best way to determine the value of plastic was to test it at several stores. The BI system was set to monitor how a credit card purchase affects sales, service speed, and cash sales. The intelligence gained from the system told executives that plastic sales were typically 35 percent higher than cash sales. Cash sales typically include a value meal-great for the customer but less profitable for the store. Plastic customers showed a trend of purchasing a la carte items generating a higher bill. Armed with BI, Wendy's introduced credit card readers nationally in June 2003.
You are the vice president of BI for McDonald's restaurants. The board of directors would like you to generate a report discussing the details of how you can use BI to analyze sales trends of menu items for all of its restaurants, including international locations. Identify several different variables you would monitor to determine menu item sales trends.