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Case Studies > Fanatics Chooses MicroStrategy to Empower Business Users

Fanatics Chooses MicroStrategy to Empower Business Users

Technology Category
  • Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
  • Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries
  • Retail
  • E-Commerce
Applicable Functions
  • Business Operation
  • Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
  • Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Services
  • Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
  • System Integration
  • Data Science Services
The Challenge
Fanatics collects a tremendous volume and variety of data. In addition to the data generated from handling over 30 million orders per year, the company collects web traffic and clickstream data from over 250 million annual website visits. They also source data from social media analytics, real-time event results, and news when making business decisions. Fanatics’ legacy reporting system was based in Excel. They faced issues with scalability, usability, and adoption, and sought to implement a modern analytics platform capable of supporting self-service data discovery. Their goal was to empower more business users to make data-driven decisions and more effectively operationalize real-time data via a cloud platform.
About The Customer
Fanatics is the largest online retailer of officially licensed sports apparel and merchandise with over $1 billion in revenue every year. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company powers e-commerce sites for major professional sports leagues including the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NASCAR, and PGA. It also operates e-commerce sites for leading media brands including NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and FOX Sports.
The Solution
Fanatics modernized their BI capabilities by tapping into a powerful combination of Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud technology and MicroStrategy. First, the company moved data storage to the cloud using Amazon Redshift as the primary data warehouse. Next, they chose to deploy MicroStrategy because it could support comprehensive BI capabilities while delivering self-service functionality and stringent security requirements. Additionally, the MicroStrategy Cloud Platform on AWS offered a powerful suite of administrative tools that—when combined with the elasticity of the cloud—enabled Fanatics to automate repetitive tasks and scale up or down at a moment’s notice. Shortly thereafter, Fanatics deployed a Hadoop distribution to help manage and process 500 terabytes of unstructured log data, which they analyze using MicroStrategy.
Operational Impact
  • Fanatics can scale up or down on demand, allowing them to manage costs and meet fluctuating consumer demand.
  • Business users can answer their own questions with self-service tools, reducing the time spent on data preparation and increasing time spent on data analysis.
  • Fanatics uses real-time insights to anticipate spikes in demand, improving their ability to respond to market changes quickly.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Fanatics expanded their MicroStrategy implementation from 10 licenses to over 500 active users.
  • The company handles over 30 million orders per year and collects web traffic and clickstream data from over 250 million annual website visits.
  • Fanatics manages and processes 500 terabytes of unstructured log data using Hadoop.

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