How a 39-store retail chain in Laos moved from Excel to AI agents
Until this summer, the morning numbers at LDC Import-Export Co., Ltd. were built by hand. LDC is a Lao distribution and retail group. It started in Vientiane in 2011, distributing local and imported goods, and its retail arm now runs 39 convenience stores across seven provinces, including Jiffy shops on PTT fuel forecourts and its […] The post How a 39-store retail chain in Laos moved from Excel…
A Laos retail chain with 39 stores switched from using Excel to AI agents for managing their business data. LDC Import-Export Co., Ltd. had been operating since 2011 and had 39 convenience stores across seven provinces. The company's retail arm utilized 52 databases that were only accessible through manual spreadsheet exports. Every morning, the business-analysis team spent hours assembling Excel report packs from these exports.
The CEO and co-founder of QUEST EDTECH, a company that provided services to LDC, recognized the issue of lost sales due to empty shelves and other inefficiencies. The company's solution was to rebuild the layer of data processing with AI coding agents. The new system restored the ERP at 4:45am each morning, rebuilt a warehouse, and emailed packs by 7:45am, allowing analysts to spend their time analyzing the data rather than assembling it.
The AI system also identified about US$570,000 of sales lost to empty shelves, helping LDC make informed decisions about inventory management.
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