Final answer:
Most retail stores today use computer-based information systems primarily for transaction processing and decision support. These systems are crucial for handling sales transactions and aiding effective decision-making within retail operations.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to the text, most retail stores today use computer-based information systems to support business processes and operations. The support that these information systems provide can primarily be categorized into two main areas: Transaction processing and decision support.
Transaction processing systems (TPS) are fundamental to the operations of any business, handling the collection, modification, retrieval, and storage of transaction data. These systems ensure that transactions are processed correctly and efficiently, vital for retail environments with high volumes of sales activity. Decision support systems (DSS) are used to assist and improve the decision-making process within an organization. They manage and manipulate data, supporting the identification of problems, analysis of information, and formulation of potential solutions.
Thus, systems supporting automation and executive information usually fall outside of this primary categorization, making options b), c), and d) less likely. We can dediscount these options because office automation relates to optimizing office procedures, which is broader than the specific retail context here, and executive information systems are generally tailored to senior management's strategic decision-making, which does not encompass the entire scope of retail store operations.