Business intelligence to stimulate the commercial turnaround in the microcenter of an intermediate-sized city

Abstract

The microcenter of Bahía Blanca (Argentina) has been hard hit by the pandemic and the economic crisis. Traffic is falling sharply, and many stores have been closed for good. Consequently, the final objective of this research is to have a software tool for decision-making that allows the establishment of intelligent marketing strategies. The chosen software resource is an Intelligent Decision Support System (IDSS). This paper describes the conceptual design of a generalized IDSS that will improve the commercial turn of Bahia's micro-center. Artificial intelligence is included in the data collection and analysis and in an optimizer that employs a predictive genetic algorithm. Among the innovative contributions of this study, the combination of predictive and prescriptive analytics is highlighted as a valuable tool to address the non-trivial task of optimizing the urban commercial turn. This IDSS can evaluate and categorize hypothetical scenarios, providing clues about their economic feasibility and desirability. It is the first tool in our region aimed at reorganizing physical stores to sustain jobs in the sector.