![[Case Study] Nexus Outdoors: From "Reports Take Too Long" To Data-Driven Omnichannel](https://retlia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image_a51bb1e18f03489fda8a7064bcdd5a68-770x499.png)
Midsize retailers can thrive with data. Nexus Outdoors, a sub-$100M outdoor retail company, transformed its operations by ditching Excel spreadsheets for an advanced data dashboard. Here’s what they achieved:
- Faster Reporting: Automated dashboards replaced manual reports that took hours.
- Smarter Decisions: Teams now use data daily for sales, inventory, and marketing.
- Self-Service Analytics: Employees create their own insights without needing IT support.
Key takeaway: You don’t need a billion-dollar budget or an IT department to use advanced data tools. Nexus Outdoors shows midsize businesses how to make data the core of every decision.
Hear The Story:
About Nexus Outdoors
Nexus Outdoors is a sub-$100M outdoor retail company managing multiple brands across retail, ecommerce, and wholesale. Their operations involve juggling diverse data sets, including product performance, inventory, shipping, marketing, and customer engagement. These complexities highlighted the need for a major shift in how they handled data.
Challenges With Manual Processes
For a long time, Nexus Outdoors relied on manual spreadsheets, believing that advanced data tools were out of their reach. When Aaron Ambur joined the company, he quickly noticed the limitations:
"When I joined, it was a world of Excel spreadsheets."
The inefficiencies were hard to ignore. In one instance, Ambur recounted:
"My VP of Sales said, ‘That’s going to take one of my people eight hours.’ And it wasn’t even a complex report."
The bigger issue? The company had plenty of data but struggled to turn it into actionable insights:
"Everyone has data, but not many people have information."
This lack of clarity created constant hurdles for the team:
"We used to look at a problem and say: we’re not even going to start the hike."
"Otherwise it’s brute force – so much energy wasted just trying to get answers."
As Nexus Outdoors grew, these inefficiencies became more pressing. Sales teams couldn’t easily track performance, marketing campaigns lacked proper analytics, and inventory decisions often relied on guesswork. It was clear they needed a scalable, smarter data solution to help every team work faster and make better decisions.
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Main Tools Used
Nexus Outdoors revamped its operations by implementing an executive dashboard that provided daily insights. Aaron Ambur shared:
"The first thing we built was an executive dashboard with sales, margin, inventory, and top sellers – so our team could get a perspective on the business every single day."
This dashboard brought together essential metrics like sales, margins, inventory, and top-performing products. It gave teams the tools they needed to make informed decisions about wholesale purchasing and promotions. Over time, this dashboard became a key resource for improving operations across all departments.Results Across the Company
Thanks to the dashboard’s success, Nexus Outdoors now relies on data for nearly every part of its operations.
Smarter Sales and Inventory Planning
Data has transformed how Nexus Outdoors handles inventory and sales forecasting. By analyzing over a year of historical data, the team evaluates performance based on style, color, size, and sales channels.
"We look at style, color, size, channel – we break it down to a granular level so we don’t overbuy or miss the window."
They also compare new products to similar SKUs to estimate how they’ll perform. These forecasting improvements have made data a core part of the company’s strategy.
Teams Across the Board Using Data
This data-driven approach has sparked changes across multiple departments:
- Ecommerce Team: Reviews year-over-year promotional data to identify what works best.
- Social Media Team: Tracks engagement spikes and connects them to sales trends.
- Logistics Team: Cuts shipping costs by analyzing carrier performance and fulfillment patterns.
"Our social team looks at spikes in engagement and ties it back to sales data."
"We’ve had non-power users evolve – people who used to just read reports are now building their own."
"The savings on shipping alone is more than 2x ROI on Retlia."
These insights have reshaped how teams approach everyday decisions.
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Data at the Core of Every Decision
Data plays a role in every decision at Nexus Outdoors. Weekly analytics meetings for each brand focus on sales, margins, inventory, and product trends.
"There’s an empty chair in every meeting – that’s the data. It’s always part of the conversation."
"Nothing happens around here without the use of our data."
Key Findings and Leadership Tips
Common Misconceptions
Nexus Outdoors challenged the belief that advanced data tools are only for massive corporations.
Here are two myths they debunked:
- Advanced data tools can be effective even without a dedicated IT team.
- Teams can confidently manage analytics when given the right resources and guidance.
"I was worried these tools were just for the rich – the billion-dollar brands."
These discoveries highlight the importance of leadership that empowers every team member with the tools they need to succeed.
Advice from Aaron Ambur
Drawing from these lessons, Aaron Ambur shared essential leadership insights on using data tools effectively:
"Are we empowering our employees with the tools to make good decisions? That’s the real leadership question."
"If you don’t have a well-functioning data warehouse and tools to access it – you don’t know what you don’t know."
This mindset reflects how Nexus Outdoors revamped its operations using data, offering a roadmap for other retailers to follow.
Tips for Other Retailers
Midsize retailers can take actionable steps like these:
- Start With Executive Visibility: Develop a dashboard to track key metrics.
- Encourage Team Independence: Promote self-service analytics to empower employees.
- Make Data a Core Element: Incorporate data insights into every meeting and decision-making process.
"If you’re leading a midsize company and think you can’t afford this – you’re wrong. You can’t afford not to."
Conclusion: Data Success at Any Size
Nexus Outdoors’ journey shows that powerful data tools aren’t just for the big players. They managed to create analytics capabilities on par with industry leaders – all without a dedicated IT team or analysts.
Their approach highlights how midsize retailers can level the playing field. By making data usable for everyone – from social media managers to inventory planners – Nexus Outdoors shows that competing with larger companies is within reach.
"Nothing happens around here without the use of our data." – Aaron Ambur, Nexus Outdoors
Their story challenges outdated assumptions and underscores the importance of data-driven decisions in staying competitive. For retailers still depending on spreadsheets and manual processes, Nexus Outdoors provides a clear example of what transformation can look like.
FAQs
How did Nexus Outdoors overcome manual data challenges to build a powerful, data-driven dashboard?
Nexus Outdoors, a business with under $100 million in revenue, transitioned from relying on manual Excel spreadsheets to a streamlined, data-driven operation by implementing a retail data warehouse and analytics solution. Before this change, they struggled with disconnected data, slow reporting processes, and missed opportunities due to inefficiencies.
By building a centralized data warehouse and an executive dashboard, Nexus Outdoors gained real-time insights, improved forecasting, and empowered their team to make smarter, data-backed decisions – all without the need for a full-time IT team or dedicated data analyst. This transformation not only boosted operational efficiency but also proved that advanced data tools are accessible to midsize businesses.
What benefits did Nexus Outdoors gain from implementing self-service analytics, and how did it enhance decision-making across their teams?
Nexus Outdoors, a mid-sized business, transformed their operations by adopting a retail data warehouse and analytics solution. This shift replaced manual, time-consuming processes with real-time insights that were accessible across the organization. Teams were empowered to make faster, data-backed decisions, improving efficiency and agility.
They state that the ROI has been huge. For example, their analysis of their shipping needs saved 2x the cost of their Retlia data warehouse, their e-commerce team analyzed year-over-year promotional data to optimize campaigns, while their social team connected engagement spikes to sales performance. They also improved wholesale buying decisions by leveraging detailed data on styles, colors, and sales trends, and optimized logistics by analyzing shipping data. This company-wide adoption of data-driven practices allowed Nexus Outdoors to operate at a level comparable to much larger enterprises, all without needing an in-house IT team or dedicated analyst.
What advice does Nexus Outdoors have for midsize retailers wanting to adopt advanced data tools without a big IT budget?
Nexus Outdoors emphasizes that advanced data tools are no longer just for billion-dollar enterprises. According to their leadership, midsize retailers can’t afford to delay investing in a robust data warehouse and analytics solution. These tools empower teams, streamline operations, and unlock opportunities that manual processes simply can’t deliver.
As Aaron Ambur, CEO of Nexus Outdoors, puts it: ‘If you’re leading a midsize company and think you can’t afford this – you’re wrong. You can’t afford not to.’