SAS said that new software sales related to retail spiked 43% in 2006 on the back of big customer wins at retailers like AutoZone, Office Depot and Sears. Overall retail revenue grew 18% in its last fiscal year.
Cary, North Carolina-based SAS is privately held and does not spilt out revenue by sector or product. Total revenue for 2006 tipped $1.9bn in 2006, up 12% over the previous year.
SAS Institute offers a comprehensive set of packaged analytic applications for retailers that include merchandising planning, store performance, demand forecasting and customer behavior modules, as well as generic business intelligence and analytic tools.
Retail customers include Brooks Brothers, Office Depot, Carrefour, JCPenney, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, and Tesco.
Retail isn’t the only vertical that has been growing strongly for SAS. Its financial services and life sciences businesses grew 17 and 12% respectively last year as well. SAS is also starting to establish a foothold in the US public sector, particularly in application areas like fraud detection.
