Quantum CEO Vicki Raport talks about transformational success for retail merchandise optimization
speaking with Vicki Raport, CEO Quantum Retail • May 2011
Excerpt: “There are a lot of retailers out there who are aggressively moving into the market, to try and figure out how they can be more consumer-driven, how they can optimize their assortments, how they can be hyper-responsive, how they can be more productive, and how they can design into their business everything that they do to be profit-seeking. So if you aren’t thinking about your business that way, one of your competitors is. So I encourage retailers to stop being confined by the way their technology behaves today, and to start thinking about what they need from their technology in the future.”
Battling the big vendors simply takes a new approach
speaking with Greg Wilson, Director of Field Strategy at Quantum Retail • April 2011
Excerpt: “Some vendors have been working on and gathering more and more solutions that cater to retailers in an end-to-end manner. Examples are solutions coming from folks like Oracle, SAP, SAS, JDA, IBM, Epicor, RedPrairie, Island Pacific, Jesta, and others. But these solutions are mainly just minor variations to the same traditional processes that have been in retail for decades now. They have yet to really achieve the ability to learn from what they “see” and promptly adapt to that with recommendations that will meet the evolving needs of today without the need for user intervention all along the way.”
Insider Stories – Building confidence for Guitar Center
speaking with Irene Messier, former SVP of Planning and Allocation at Guitar Center, now Head of the Product Execution Team at Quantum Retail • April 2011
Excerpt: “The advice I would give to executives who are looking to help their company evolve, and to reach their goals, is to really vet out what partner you want to help you do that, and what types of solutions are really required. And if you can find a solution that is holistic to many of your needs – it really can help the company operate far more efficiently than putting in several different pieces.”
A Watson for retail
speaking with Ashley Goetz, Director of Marketing and Social Media • April 2011
A Watson for retail may not be as far away as you think. Intelligent, automated retail technology is actually here, and some of the smartest retailers are already using it.
Discussing the ACE™ difference
speaking with Dr. Linda Whitaker, Chief Scientist • January 2010
Linda Whitaker discusses the benefits of a Quantum Retail’s ACE™ methodology and the necessity for retailers to adopt new technology that considers the pace and urgency of today’s retail climate. Most software implementations take over a year to complete and disrupt a company’s people and processes. In today’s competitive market, retailers do not have the time to wait for results. With ACE™, Quantum’s software solutions are implemented in a fast and low risk methodology, by phasing integration, change management, and value creation throughout the life of the deployment. Phased implementation helps to reduce the risk associated with new software integration and aligns the companies’ business strategies with their customers.
Localizing demand insight in the grocery sector
speaking with Greg Wilson, Director of Field Strategy • December 2009
Greg Wilson discusses how grocers can improve inventory management practices through strategies that improve understanding and reaction to localized demand, with technology that learns from shopper behavior on a day to day basis. Since grocery retailers work on some of the tightest margins in all of retail, an inventory mistake in one category can totally wipe out the profits earned from another category. The same is true of mistakes made in one store negating profits earned in a neighboring store.
Implement better planning practices to manage the breadth of your assortment
speaking with Chris Allan, Chief Strategy Officer • October 2009
Chris Allan discusses the retailers need for better assortment planning tools. He explains how Q: Assortment and Range Planning software monitors customer behavior in a continuous time environment so the retailer can continually align their offering to local demand.
Balancing customer and shareholder value: Now is the time for a balanced equation
speaking with Mike Hrabe • April 2009
In good economic times or during periods of high growth, few compromises are made as sales clip along with comp store growth is positive and shareholders are happy. But as the old saying goes, “Success can hide a lot of sins!” Today’s economic environment is starting to expose retailers who have disproportionately focused only on customers or only on shareholders and is rewarding those who are fanatical about both.
Collapsing the deployment model
speaking with Vicki Raport, CEO • February 2009
If you have been through a major systems implementation, you will know it can be a fraught process.Meanwhile some retailers have found a better way. Its called Q, and it is revolutionizing the field of inventory allocation and replenishment.
Delivering the Fashion Forward Supply Chain
speaking with Spencer Maynard, Head of Stock Optimisation, New Look • January 2009
At last years NRF Big Show Spencer Maynard of UK’s fast fashion retailer, New Look, and successful Quantum client, gave a talk on how his company stays ahead of the pack in the cut-throat world of fast fashion.
Chasing Profits
speaking with former CEO Tarik Taman and Chief Scientist, Linda Whitaker • November 2008
If I could only manage every store like it was my only one… For today’s multi-chain retailers the idea of being able to manage the performance of every SKU in every store, every day is still wishful thinking. Even leading businesses tend to focus only on their best sellers or top few hundred lines; their manual approach makes anything more impossible. Yet for any retailer looking to maximize profit this is what its all about.
An optimization solution for the i2 Inforem user community
speaking with Mike Hrabe, VP Sales and Marketing • December 2007
Inforem users are facing the serious question of how to modernize their systems and processes without the hassle and cost of buying and implementing a new one. Most retailers know Inforem is past its prime but for various reasons it is difficult to replace, as are most legacy replenishment systems like it. Hrabe offers a simple solution to these concerns by describing Quantum Retail solution to the problem and detailing how the solution has worked for others.
Engineering truly adaptive and dynamic planning
speaking with Morgan Day, Chief Technology Officer • October 2007
Morgan Day talks about the technology and architecture constraints of current systems and how Q does things a little differently. Most retail forecasting, replenishment, allocation and inventory planning taking place today suffers from significant performance and scalability issues. With Q, Quantum Retail take a completely different approach to solving the problems of scalability and performance that beset today’s systems.
Managing markdowns: Why prevention Is better than the optimization cure
speaking with Linda Whitaker, Chief Scientist • June 2007
Markdown Optimization has become all the rage of retailers and retail technologists. What more can be done to minimize markdowns before the end of the product lifecycle? As product lifecycles become ever shorter, getting it right has never been more important in maintaining competitive advantage and profitability. Most of the technology being deployed today to optimize the productivity of inventory is designed to operate at the end of the product lifecycle and is focused on price. Of course the end of the lifecycle is the time to execute markdown strategies, but in fact the most effective and profitable strategy is one based on the whole of the product life and also focuses on inventory.
Guitar Center shares Q insight
speaking with Irene Messier, Senior Vice President of Planning and Allocation, Guitar Center • October 2006
Messier talks frankly about the challenges Guitar Center faced in order to achieve its goals for growing the company and expanding national market share. Find out how Guitar Center is increasing service levels, reducing inventory and putting in place a dynamic approach to improving processes and rebalancing of stock throughout all Guitar Center Stores.
Overcoming the complexity barrier
speaking with Chris Allan, Chief Strategy Officer • September 2006
Technology today provides retailers with the tools to tackle the massive scale and complexity of their businesses. From supply chain management to pricing optimization, retailers have access to a wealth of point technology solutions. Thanks to these new tools retailers have seen impressive efficiency and profitability gains. Continuous refinement and development of technology means that retailing will continue to evolve, but is that progress going to be fast enough? Could it be that there is a better way about to emerge? Are today’s retailers ready to overcome the complexity barrier in order to enjoy the benefits of a new and better way?