Expert Insight: Guest Contribution
     
  By Wayne Usie, Senior Vice President, Retail for JDA Software Group, Inc.  
     
  Oct. 19, 2008  
     
 

Retail Supply Chain: Using Next-Generation Space & Category Management Strategies for Supply Chain Excellence

 
     
 

Companies Embracing Advanced Solutions Can Rise Above Competitors, Grow Market Share, And Improve Satisfaction Levels by Integrating Intelligent Forecasting and Demand Data

 
     
 

 

Usie Says:
Understanding shelf space availability, along with consumer demand, allows retailers to develop a replenishment strategy to avoid excess inventory and plan for a rise in the purchasing of a product based on season or promotions.

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Retailers face challenges from competitive discounting strategies, fluctuating consumer demand, and seasonal inventory issues. Originally developed to help supermarkets improve sales, space and category management has evolved into a “must have” for retailers; companies that embrace advanced solutions can rise above competitors, grow market share, and improve satisfaction levels by integrating intelligent forecasting and demand data.

Clusters Based on Similar Demand Trends

Utilizing demand data gathered from similar purchasing patterns helps planners create intelligent forecasts for specific products; these forecasts are then used to create store clusters. Clustering based on demand insight allows organizations to make allocation and replenishment decisions, as well as reduce uncertainty by having a flexible plan that can be tweaked to accommodate shifts in consumer demand for more effective product launches.

Accurate and Efficient Assortment Management

Intelligent forecasts help retailers determine trends in advance and plan for what products should be in what stores at a specific time. Using demand insight to drive planning allows retailers to predict trends for new and seasonal products, determine assortments, and calculate store and shelf placement. Demand planning also allows stores to localize assortments based on the demographic of shoppers.

Creating Floorplans that Increase Store Productivity

Making sure the right space is allocated is critical to store productivity. Using an intelligent forecast to develop a floorplan allows retailers to decide on the placement of specific products to maximize the real estate available based on future demand. High-traffic areas can be used to sell the higher demand items or promote seasonal products.

Efficiently Develop Planograms for Improved Space Management

Understanding shelf space availability, along with consumer demand, allows retailers to develop a replenishment strategy to avoid excess inventory and plan for a rise in the purchasing of a product based on season or promotions. Maximizing the space available and reducing excess inventory can increase revenue and efficiency. In the past, merchants have often been forced to choose between quantity and quality when developing planograms. However, advanced solutions such as JDA Software’s Planogram Generator enable retailers to create large quantities of planograms without sacrificing quality.

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