Essentially I like to think of it as just entries in a database — nothing too ground breaking.
This is as ground breaking as it gets.
It keeps track of inventory. It sorts the fastest selling items, and the most profitable items. Crucial data to be successful. It tracks inventory turns. It monitors stock levels and generates reorders. It tracks aging on slow moving products so they can be replaced, if need be. It tracks time analysis of what sells most and when that happens - time of day, and weekly results per individual day.
Not to mention doing the actual accounting, which includes income, cost of goods sold, net profit, and extracting sales tax data.
It monitors response to sales and coupons. What works and how well it works. It can even define this to what isle and what shelf space is most effective. Marketing 101 to 501.
It pretty much runs the entire store - or should I say entire enterprise?
How many people do you think it would take to do all of that?