2010 Retail Outlook Review: Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Home Depot lead innovation

by Dave Landreth • March 9th, 2010 • Write a comment »

As 2010 gets underway, retailers are prepared for sales to trickle back. 2009 forced retailers to make some necessary changes. The general pattern for the year was slashing inventories, getting back to the basics and battling for the lowest prices. The following are results and projections from the National Retail Federation for 2009 and 2010.

2009 – a hard hit for retail

2009 was an extremely difficult year for retailers. Industry retail sales (excluding autos, gasoline and restaurants) declined by 3.3% in the first quarter, 3.4% in the second and 3.8% in the third quarter compared to the previous year. Fourth quarter sales rose a slight 0.3%. Despite overall sales slump, lower inventories enhanced retailers’ profit margins. The National Retail Federation forecast that holiday sales (November and December combined) would be down 1.0%, but instead, preliminary results showed a gain of 1.1%.

2010 – projected sales to increase by 2.5%

In 2010, the retail environment will remain difficult, but the improved economy and easy comparisons will result in positive sales gains. NRF forecasts that retail sales will increase by 2.5% vs. the 2.5% decline in 2009.

Interestingly, some retailers were able to thrive in 2009 and take advantage of a very difficult time in retail by having the ability to proactively understand in real time what was happening to their business. These thought leading retailers adjusted their business strategies to meet the local needs of their shoppers and better leverage their inventory investments.

This year, these same retailers have the best possible understanding of what to expect during the spring and fall shopping surges and are formulating their plans to leverage this knowledge to grow their business. It’s about bending to the customer and giving them what they want at prices they are willing to pay.

Technology helps retailers adjust to the “New Normal”

While retail has stabilized somewhat, all indications predict that customer buying habits have forever shifted. Consumers are still clipping coupons and getting into the habit of buying products, fashions, and food that has the most value and is long-lasting. With these new consumer patterns, forecasts of past shopper behavior are no longer relevant. In a recent interview with Barron’s, Deborah Weinswig, Citigroup Investment Research’s retailing analyst said “retailer’s must adjust to the New Normal, conspicuous consumption is definitely out.” Weinswig, who focuses on major retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores, Home Depot and Target, states that “technology stories are key,” when she considers investing in retailers.

“Retailers who are investing in optimizing their environment to localize their decisions about the customer are the only real winners,” states Weinswig. One of these retailers Deborah is enamored with is Kohl’s. She states that they have “completely pulled away from the pack.” She continues, “Kohl’s has done such a great job in terms of delivering value to the customer at the right price that Target has lost share to them on apparel and home goods.” Kohl’s remains progressive and has continued to grow through the recession, while most retailers saw a negative trend in their comps.

Why is technology so important?

Weinswig states, it is “because retailers have been so late to the game. That’s the underlying story at Saks. They have invested a lot in technology. So has J.C. Penney, which has spent a lot of time on cycle-time reduction. And there’s Home Depot, which is upgrading its technology. That’s the common thread in terms of the retailers we have Buys on. Consistent with this theme, Nordstrom did a major technology implementation in 2004 and now they have some of the best inventory turns in my coverage universe.”

One area where retailers have really seen results through the recession is by utilizing intelligent inventory planning and management technology that can help retailers decrease excess inventory to align demand with store need. To do that, retailers need to look for solutions that can give them real-time visibility to their chain, their product performance and customer buying habits at each store.

When they have this kind of visibility and can utilize this intelligence in their merchandise planning, forecasting, ordering, allocation and replenishment processes, they can manage each store effectively, rather than aggregating and averaging their data. When you combine automation that turns store data into profitability monitoring and strategic merchandise management, this creates instant ROI for retailers.

Get back in the game

Are you ready this year to know exactly what your customers are asking for at every location and to have the ability to react as their wants change? If you are looking for a solution that can drive momentum for your business this year, check out the solutions offered by Quantum Retail. Our customers see valuable results in 8 to 12 weeks, and our implementation approach gives your team access to the system from the beginning, so you can manage changes to your processes with ease. Quantum Retail continues to help all of its clients drive positive business value more rapidly than anything seen in retail.

For more information, visit: http://quantumretail.com/solutions

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Retail opportunities in the global community: overcoming the complexity of expansion

by Morgan Day • February 23rd, 2010 • Write a comment »

Blog part 2:

Last week, in part 1 of this blog series, I discussed issues and ideas around outsourcing and offshoring. In part 2 of this series I will discuss overcoming the complexity of global expansion. These ideas are based on a key-note speech I gave in India two weeks ago – on retail opportunities in the global community. Thanks for your interest – please feel free to comment!

- Morgan CTO // Quantum Retail

Supply-chain complexity comes from balancing both local and foreign sources to meet the localized consumer demand, on a global stage.

Emerging markets don’t represent opportunity for every retail vertical. First, you need to know:

  • What is your goal in expansion and how are you going to measure success?
  • Who is your customer in this new market?
  • Is the culture going to accept your brand, or do you need to create a new brand?
  • Is there enough demand to achieve your goal?
  • Who will your competition be and how are they likely to react to your presence?
  • What does your offering look like in this new market?
  • How will you manage your supply chain – distribution, allocation and replenishment?
  • How will you manage the people and processes in a global environment?
  • How will you deal with trade challenges such as tax complexity and product restrictions?

Integrating Processes:

How we can make it work:

  • Use of partnership – technology and fluid processes that blend the relationship into a strategic workflow
  • Value driven approach – common goals, measured results.
  • Process Efficiencies in – demand driven sourcing, multi-channel selling.
  • Leverage technology and partners – reduce system complexity, eliminate artificial boundaries.

What is the difference between a business process outsourcing (BPO) challenge and an IT challenge?

In many cases current enterprise systems and business processes are what constrain retailers from taking advantage of business opportunities. Today, every initiative have to show rapid, significant return on investment . If the current operating model is too restrictive then the cost can outweigh the short term benefits and fail to deliver that return on investment. This means that BPO has to be strategically planned, controlled and have the flexibility to be change, reflecting a retailers changing strategic priorities. The IT challenge is then to integrate the BPO with the entirety of their global supply chain.

Simplifying the complexity:

Retail is complex and it gets more complex every day. Global expansion and localization challenges are at the heart of this complexity. We can’t eliminate these challenges, but we can embrace them and simplify the processes and the way solutions are delivered.

Key components of a successful strategy:

  1. Combine strategic partnerships in ‘end2end outsourcing’ (not offshoring) that creates result-driven alliances
  2. Continuous process refinement that strengthens these partnerships and allows open sharing of ideas
  3. Seek process innovation (not just technology) – because retail is changing every day and solutions need to evolve at the same pace
  4. Embrace processes that localize assortments and create a dynamic supply network that integrates factory to shelf visibility

Seeking innovative partnerships:

A new look at partnerships will change the landscape of global solution delivery in retail. In order to get the most out of these relationships, the partners must create fluid, transparent communication based on information, not just data – giving trust and authority to both sides in order to steer the relationship in the most efficient direction. Integrating business processes to make partners an integral part of idea creation, solution development, delivery and support.

Fundamentals of successful partnerships:

  • Require a joint business plan with an incremental multiplier on potential revenue and margin
  • Provide a compelling and unique selling proposition – it is not sufficient to just offer a service
  • Address global market-space rather than look to multiple partners to solve one problem regionally. It needs to focus on a global service provider
  • Eliminate barriers to entry – IT, barriers due to corporate scalability, technology.

Get resources on how to adapt to the challenges of today’s retail market HERE »

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Retail opportunities in the global community: outsourcing and offshoring

by Morgan Day • February 19th, 2010 • 1 Comment »

Blog part 1:

Last week I ventured to India to give a key-note presentation on retail opportunities in the global community. The complexity of global expansion is daunting, as the processes and logistics of managing a supply chain on a global scale are immense. But here are some of the key points of my speech for you to consider. Look for part 2 next week. Thanks for your interest – please feel free to comment!

- Morgan CTO // Quantum Retail

Today there are two dominant strategies in retail:

  1. A continued global expansion of brands
  2. A need to tailor the offering to focus on the local customer

The fact that these are sometimes at odds creates complexity for retailers. With the global expansion of retail and the drive for brand consistency – many products are manufactured and sourced internationally, however – today customers are more sophisticated than ever, with competing objectives such as:

  • a return to locally sourced products
  • an eye to sustainability
  • value for money
  • brand recognition

These demands pose a challenge to retailers that have spent significant time and effot simplifying their supply chain sourcing and distribution. It also poses a big logistics question as more and more retailers expand their chains into global markets. Now retailers are faced with the task of restructuring their processes, re-routing their distribution patterns and re-branding their image to embrace the task of localization as they reach into the global sphere of retail.

So how do retailers think globally and act locally?

They need to have a supply-chain that is able to be responsive to customer needs, now and in the future, and one that can be efficient at distributing product on a global scale. Retailers need to look for opportunities that leverage intelligent international partners for ideas in technology, analytics, customer service, and distribution. This will allow them to extend their reach and scale their capabilities far beyond that which they can manage effectively today.

What is the difference between ‘outsource and offshore’ ?

Outsource – means you look for ways to scale and build capacity by divesting of critical yet non-core functions

Offshore – means you are looking for ways to reduce costs by accessing lower cost resources (this applies to US exports and imports) – lumber, steel, wheat etc.

What are companies looking for in sourcing and off-shoring:

  • Solutions not just lower costs
  • Scalability of business, processes and people
  • Technical innovation, not maintenance of existing systems
  • A stable environment that has a predictable cost with increased efficiency over time

Global presence means understanding foreign trade, complex supplier relationships and materials sourcing – it’s not just about IT or process… it’s about everything retail. Even with the recession of 2009 it’s important to note that thriving retailers are now even more aggressive about global supply chain expansion, they don’t want to depend solely on US revenue stream.

Get resources on how to adapt to the challenges of today’s retail market HERE »

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The truth about size optimization, SKU rationalization and localization

by Quantum Retail • February 4th, 2010 • Write a comment »

Getting the right sizes, colors, styles and quantities to the right location

Local demand changes at every store on a daily basis. Clustering stores together by store size and geography might simplify the process, but is inefficient and does not take into consideration individual store patterns for size, color, style and quantity of local demand and product preference.  Retailers need to monitor the changing demand at every store to align their assortment in the way that is most profitable and aligned to their strategic objectives.

It sounds like a no-brainer, but when supply chains become complex, retailers cannot keep up with store level demand and will send the same amounts of every product to similar store types. However, localization of store level assortments and order plans is proven to increase availability, full price sales and customer satisfaction. It is also proven to reduce overall inventory, wastage and markdowns which all erode margin.

Optimizing sizes and rationalizing SKUs

In order to optimize sizes and rationalize SKUs at a store level you need an acute awareness of product behavior. It does not make sense to only optimize on size – if a retailer is going to take the time to assess sales and demand at a store-by-store level, they should rationalize SKUs at a local level by using store data.

There are dozens of product behaviors unique to every store. In order to analyze these behaviors and make the most of their efforts, retailers should optimize by style, color, brand, promotion, price, and seasonality at each store. But the complexity of this exercise can become time consuming when a supply chain is vast.

There are however, technologies available that can simplify this process and make it ongoing, creating a strategy for these attributes and applying it to all levels of inventory management, from order planning, allocation, replenishment, forecasting and distribution.

The concept of localization works on two levels:

  1. Retailers can look at the unique behaviors of every product – to determine each stores’ selling patterns for size, color, style, quantity, brand, season, etc. With this understanding, a retailer can plan orders on a store by store basis to deliver the right amount of the products that customers are buying at each location, allowing the retailer to achieve the highest turn rates, reduce inventory to the appropriate levels, reduce over stocking and stock outs and ultimately increase margin. The second concept of localization comes from localizing distribution and utilizing vendors that produce products in the vicinity of each store. This type of localization is most easily applied to fresh foods and markets – where customers prefer to support their local farmers and local brands.
  2. When retailers realize that they cannot optimize sizes and packs unless they have an awareness of store demand, stock outs, and customer behavior at the local level, they quickly become more profitable and able to compete in today’s retail market.

Q – the quickest and most profitable solution for size optimization, SKU rationalization and localization

The Q system continuously monitors business strategies, profitability, service levels, stock levels and 35 different aspects of behavior for every product in every store. Q is so intelligent that it learns from data like stock outs, lost sales, slow movers, lumpy sellers, packs, sizes, colors and styles. It takes the most recent data for each item and automatically recommends inventory movement decisions driving toward your corporate objectives. Plus, it optimizes the way you phase in a new product and phase out another – ensuring that you are always reaching your optimal performance, sales and service levels, giving you the highest return on the inventory you are buying.

CLICK HERE for more information on Q

Get resources on how to adapt to the challenges of today’s retail market HERE »

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Quantum Looks to Reach Broader Dealer Base

by Dealer Scope • February 4th, 2010 • Write a comment »

By, Nancy Klosek | DEALER SCOPE

Quantum Retail Technology has aimed high with the initial version of its Q retail business management software, which targets tier-one dealers with a billion dollars in revenue.

The company is also working on a scaled-down version, scheduled for release in about 18 months. Because the solution is not within reach of most independent dealers, Quantum is talking with buying groups, whose small-to-medium sized members have the aggregate buying power that makes acquiring the software more cost effective.

“There are some obvious names that pop out of a hat, both in CE and in the fast-moving consumer goods space,” said Chris Allan , Quantum’s co-founder and chief strategy officer. “Those are areas we’re looking at, because these members all have the same problems. When you look at how they scale across the small businesses they support, it’s a proposition that could work for everybody.”

Quantum, founded six years ago by personnel from retailers and existing software companies, devised Q after studying 200 of the top retailers in the world “so we could understand the constraints and problems that weren’t being solved by technologies already in the market,” said Allan.

The need to help retailers of all sizes with inventory optimization, replenishment, allocation, forecasting, ordering, and assortment and range planning have become all the more acute in the last year.

“What we’re now seeing is that the market is asking questions that retailers aren’t in a great position to answer. The rate of change in consumer behavior is significantly high—it’s almost a consumer revolution,” Allan said. “People are changing their habits overnight and retailers, with their heavily embedded, long-standing processes, are having to struggle to keep up with that rate of change. That’s what we’re trying to address.”

Quantum has molded a management solution, Allan said, that is flexible enough to work for businesses as diverse as the 210-store Guitar Center chain—the company Quantum serves that is closest in nature to the CE space—and Marks & Spencer, a hybrid retailer in the U.K. that sells both perishable goods and clothing. “What that speaks to is that the engine we built, and the capabilities we have to support retailers in this problem of inventory management, are broad,” Allan said.

Why is Q so pricey now? “A lot of the things we do require a lot of data, and that doesn’t come free,” said Allan. “Even if we gave the software away, there would be a cost to the business for pulling that data together. What we’re working on at the moment is how we can make that cheaper. As we experiment, and address more of those roadblocks, it will enable us to scale down further.”

For Guitar Center, the goal set for Q was to take a big chunk of inventory out of the stores while increasing overall customer service. “We were able to increase service levels across the board and take 10 percent out of their inventories—obviously, a significant cost savings, which added to their revenue,” Allan said. The company’s three-and-a-half-year partnership with Quantum also coincided with a 50-store expansion.

Before Guitar Center used Q, in-house forecasting was a major challenge since management had to keep track of more than 7,000 SKUs. Those products ranged from keyboards and amplifiers to iPods and Apple laptops, representing a mix of high- and low-ticket items with varied and volatile lifecycles.

“Those are all factors our system takes into account and helps to automate,” Allan said. “With it, we can understand the way every product is behaving at every location, and use that information to help dealers make good decisions. You tell it what you want it to do and to achieve, from a merchandising or a financial perspective, and it will pull those levers of inventory, placement and timing on your behalf.”

Q’s pricing structure does not include a large, up-front licensing fee, but rather a smaller annual fee. “We tried to lower the barrier of entry there, but it also keeps us on the hook to deliver on our results,” Allan said. “If it’s not working for them, retailers can turn it off.”

View the article on Dealer Scope HERE

RSR Report Says CEO’s Must Take the Lead in Driving Inventory Optimization Decisions

by Dave Landreth • January 27th, 2010 • Write a comment »

From the Retail Systems Research (RSR) report: Precision Inventory Management in the Age of Localization

This RSR report shows that the most successful retailers today have been lead by CEO’s that acknowledge the need to change the way they have previously approached retail. The quickest returns on investment for retailers are the addition of smart technology, solutions that optimize their supply chains, SKUs, store level assortments, products, pricing and markdowns.

Leading retailers embrace strategic changes to their business as a competitive advantage, while laggards wait to make changes until they become mainstream, losing valuable shoppers and shareholders in the process.

The most important decision makers

Organizational Inhibitors

The report states:

“While existing technology infrastructure is the primary internal obstacle, according to survey respondents, the most important tool for overcoming obstacles rests on the shoulders of the executive team. But key differences emerge between winning retailers and their Lagging peers ‐ Winners have rested inventory responsibility squarely on the executives with the most organizational pull, mainly the CEO and CFO, while laggards rely much more on the lead supply chain executive, without the all‐important support from merchandising.“

Looking to Progressive Retailers as merit

First and foremost for progressive executive teams is the realization that CEO’s need to be responsible for a strategy to get their business processes up to the pace of today’s retail environment. RIS news predicts that retail sales will only bounce back by 2.5% in 2010. If executive leaders want to catch up with the few innovative and successful retailers that are gaining speed, despite the tumultuous economy, they need to accept that changes in their business processes are necessary.

Listen to Guitar Center discuss how they adapted to their business challenges HERE »

Top challenges now and moving forward

Consumer buying patterns today have become more unpredictable than ever, making past retail data and current forecasts irrelevant. This means that retailers need to have an intelligent way to understand shopper demand at a store, category and product level.

Some retailers seem to have given up with the belief that there is no better way than how they have been steering their business for the past 20 years, but those that acknowledge the challenges brought up by RSR will seek out the right solutions to create new business strategies and adopt better technologies.

Top Business Challenges and the most relevant technology to face them

Be a leader, not a laggard. Compete for your shoppers, shareholders and employees and catch up to the pace of today’s top retailers.

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Download the Retail Systems Research Report HERE »

Get resources on how to adapt to the challenges of today’s retail market HERE »

5 tips for developing a real-time response plan for customer behavior

by Greg Wilson • January 22nd, 2010 • Write a comment »

By Greg Wilson, Director of Field Strategy, Quantum Retail

1. Set objectives –

Each product should have a role with specific objectives that can be measured and executed to. A product may be in your assortment to drive traffic, to generate profitability, to present an image or to opportunistically acquire impulse sales. Each of these roles come with unique objectives that can result in different inventory requirements.

2. Shift focus –

While forecast accuracy is important, it is not the only way to improve inventory placement. If you are adjusting forecasts to achieve different inventory results, you’re already reacting to this fact. Shift focus to finding the best way to utilize inventory to achieve goals while understanding forecast accuracy and variability are realities.

3. Waste not –

Get a deeper understanding of the impact of waste on your inventory decisions and act on it. Depending on margin, it may be more profitable to accept additional waste on some products, while other products would be better served accepting an occasional lost sale.

4. Get local –

There is no substitute for understanding product behavior at local levels. There are many ways to improve this understanding but consider those which have the most impact including:

Seasonality - If you’re working to static, periodically generated seasonality profiles, you have a great opportunity for improvement.

Time of day – Did you stock out? When? What did that mean in missed opportunities for sales? Can you replenish again today? The more detail you have in answering these questions the more efficient you can make your inventory – especially for short life, short lead time merchandise.

Day of week – Does this location have a weekend traffic boost? Does that product respond to the pattern? Understand these interactions invariably leads to better performance.

Weather impact - Does this product react differently on cold days or wet days? What does that mean to demand? And how should that affect how stores are supplied? If I can ship it tomorrow and I know it’s going to be hot, what’s the right decision? We all know these realities exist, but have you been able to execute to the reality?

5. Revisit and rationalize –

Product behavior constantly changes with the changing consumer. The item that fulfilled it’s role last year or last quarter may not be doing so now. You need to be alerted to situations where this change is happening, and have a mechanism to understand and react to the way that impacts your offerings to customers.

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For more information on customer behavior – check out our RESOURCE LIBRARY.

Happy Birthday to Q!

by Quantum Retail • January 19th, 2010 • 1 Comment »

Quantum Retail turns 6 today.

Just six years ago today, six retail and technology experts came together and founded Quantum Retail Technology, Inc. They believed that the retail industry was being both underserved and disserved by the existing technology and software solutions industry.


MINNEAPOLIS, MN - January 19, 2010 – The founders of Quantum Retail understood that in today’s unpredictable market, retailers face significant challenges in addressing the increasing complexity of their business, their desire to achieve greater productivity and profitability from their inventory, their need to deliver on their customer brand promise in a volatile market, and the need to do it in an easy to use, intuitive solution that was not disruptive to their existing people and processes.

Unlike existing technology filling this market, Quantum Retail created the system, called Q, from the ground up to be self-improving, easy-to-use, address end-to-end business issues, and deliver unprecedented value, quickly and permanently.

By focusing on creating measurable and material value for retailers through business goals and strategies that allow retailers to accurately place every piece of inventory in their chain, Quantum Retail has changed the fundamental way technology solutions are perceived, purchased and deployed for rapid Return on Investment (ROI).

Q: The next generation in retail

Six years later, Quantum Retail has grown to 50 employees and been recognized for Supply Chain Solution of the Year, Supply Chain Excellence, and ranked as the eleventh fastest growing private software company in the nation with 964.3% growth in the past three years.

Quantum Retail’s goal is to serve world class retailers with twenty-first century solutions that maximize return on investment (ROI) of their inventory while enhancing their brand in the marketplace. Ultimately, we define our success through our customer’s eyes. Thus, our mission is to maximize the value we deliver to our clients through our solutions and services in the shortest period of time.

Read the full company story here: http://quantumretail.com/our-company/our-story

NRF 2010 update: Engagement learning sessions with tier 1 retailers

by Quantum Retail • January 11th, 2010 • Write a comment »

Blogging live from the show floor

Quantum Retail meets with tier 1 retailers at NRF’s Annual Convention & Expo 2010 – for educational sessions about how Q’s system utilizes localization and strategic business practices to bring their assortment and range planning, forecasting, order planning, allocation and replenishment efforts up to the pace of today’s retail.

NEW YORK, NY – January 11, 2010 – Photos cannot even capture how massive this convention is. At Quantum Retail’s booth, there are as many as seven meetings happening at once with tier 1 retailers. Competing with the irksome noise of JDA’s performance stage as it thunders in the background, Quantum Retail has been filling our meeting lounge, demo stations and conference room with retailers seeking a little insight into Quantum’s innovative solutions.

The way Quantum Retail approaches retailing is new to many retailers. While taking today’s rapidly changing retail market into perspective – retailers need a new way of thinking. The old solutions cannot meet the challenges of localization, strategically planned stock, or real-time, location specific inventory execution.

These are areas that retailers need to focus to become competitive and meet the challenges of growth and globalization. All of the 70+ retailers meeting with Quantum Retail today and tomorrow have embraced the reality that now is the time for innovation.

In today’s learning sessions, Quantum learned about retailers specific challenges in their business process, hardships of current legacy systems, concerns about integrating with other vendor solutions and the necessity to find a solution that can address the complexity of retailing in proliferated channels. To address these issues, Quantum shared the intelligence behind our systems, the necessity for a strategic plan for products and processes and showed interested retailers a demo of our unique solutions.

Only smart technology, like Q, has the ability to learn from the unique behaviors of customers and products at a store level perspective. With this understanding – Q uses product strategies to drive and integrate retail processes related to assortment and range planning, forecasting and order planning and allocation and replenishment, all in one dynamic and user-friendly system.


For more information about meeting with Quantum Retail at NRF or to set up an informational meeting, contact Wyatt Wood at wyatt.wood@quantumretail.com.


Photos //

Day 1

Day 2

Marks & Spencer Selects Quantum Retail to Improve Inventory Management

by Quantum Retail • January 5th, 2010 • Write a comment »

Quantum’s Q system will manage the end-to-end inventory forecasting, replenishment and order planning needs for Marks & Spencer’s food division.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN and LONDON, UK – January 5, 2010 – Marks and Spencer Group Plc (M&S) has chosen Quantum Retail’s software solution, Q, to manage the end-to-end inventory forecasting, replenishment and order planning needs for its food division.

Q was selected following a full review of competing advanced inventory management solutions available in the marketplace. M&S began running Q for the first area of merchandise in less than 6 months. Rollout is planned to commence in 2010.

Discussing the challenges of fulfillment for food retailers, Wyndham Albery, VP EMEA for Quantum Retail said, “Balancing high on-shelf availability and low wastage goes to the heart of what Q does for food retailers. Our work with a recognized innovator like M&S is focused on supporting their commitment to high levels of profitable customer service through a customer centric supply chain process.”

Q meets inventory management challenges by considering constraints such as availability, shelf life and wastage. The system is able to forecast and make inventory decisions in real-time while considering both inter-day and intra-day stocking. Importantly, Q forecasts demand at an individual item/SKU level for every store, rather than using averages across a range of similar stores. Buying decisions are made based on current stock levels, as well as considerations such as daily selling patterns, product life-cycle, seasonality, projected waste, target service levels and inventory availability.

“We aim to provide M&S with capabilities that can provide real competitive advantage in the marketplace – Q is a tool to execute on the vision of customer service and availability,” stated Quantum Retail’s chief strategy officer and co-founder, Chris Allan, “and we are very excited to prove the value of our solutions to a great company like M&S.”

About Quantum Retail Technology, Inc.

Quantum Retail answers the new questions facing retailers with a merchandise optimization suite designed for the increasing pace and complexity of the consumer revolution and today’s competitive landscape. Quantum Retail’s solutions solve the most difficult and costly problems retailers face – quickly and permanently. Our Q solution is the answer for: Forecasting and Order Planning – Replenishment and Allocation – Assortment and Range Planning.

About Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer is one of the UK’s leading retailers with over 21 million people visiting their stores each week. They sell clothing, food and homeware and work hard to provide their customers with the highest quality products, service and shopping environments.

Follow Quantum Retail on Twitter @quantumretail

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