For those retailers that are identified as "Laggards" and might be the ones struggling most with customers service, the Aberdeen report offers up three suggestions to get their BI efforts going. (The report also offers "steps to success" for Industry Average and Best-in-Class retailers. Access to the report is free until the end of March.)

Go beyond segmenting customers and aim to identify profitable ones that can become loyal customers. "Business intelligence technology assists in accelerating the identification of both profitable, and perhaps more importantly, unprofitable customers," the authors write. "Retailers that can identify and segment these groups are able to shift awareness and tactical marketing spend toward more profitable activities and new targets with a higher potential for profitability."

Prioritize real-time alerts and updates. "The retail world is evolving faster than ever, particularly as online retailing has become an industrywide force. Consumers have quickly learned to utilize all of the tools at their disposal to educate themselves about products and prices," they write. "Do not let a lag in data access cause lost opportunities. Retailers that respond fastest to changing market dynamics gain the most advantage in terms of Best-in-Class performance."

Train end-users—BI cannot be fully utilized if users do not understand the solution. "Only 28 percent of Laggards currently provide end users with BI training, inhibiting the ability to make full use of all BI capabilities," the authors write. "The investment in business intelligence technology only begins with the acquisition of a toolset. The ongoing support and maintenance of the system is important, but all of that goes to waste if users are not adopting the tools and using them to their fullest potential."