Posts Tagged ‘inventory management’

Fashion Innovation Series – Part 3: Replenishment Optimization – Avoiding Markdowns

by Linda Whitaker • April 30th, 2010 • Write a comment »

This is the part 3 of a 4 part series on Fashion Innovation and Optimization. To read part 2 CLICK HERE. Look out for part 4 – Allocation: Seeking profit, a 4-part guide for creating a hold-back strategy

KEY TOPICS IN THIS SERIES:

  1. Size & Pack Optimization
  2. Assortment & Range Planning
  3. In-season Replenishment
  4. Allocation Optimization

You can also follow our 4-part 2010 Retail Outlook series here.

Inventory Execution and Replenishment Optimization

Inventory execution and replenishment optimization should focus on efforts to reduce stock-outs through better replenishment and fulfillment strategies. Some stores are out of stock way too soon in the product lifecycle and others are left with far too much stock at the end, which has to be marked down. These are fundamental errors in the fulfillment operation that retailers cannot afford to make, but they happen all too often. The key operation between the initial buying decision and the final end of line markdown is in inventory execution – managing the supply of goods to minimize out of stocks, lost sales and overstocking.

If markdowns are up – Your Inventory Management system is down

Inventory management systems have helped retailers to improve in this area of inventory imbalance, but the continued use of significant markdowns suggests that things are not getting any better for retailers.

In fact, there are two separate areas where better decision making is required:

  • The initial purchase stage – deciding how much product the retailer needs in total
  • Distribution – how and when to allocate that quantity across stores and channels

Markdowns are often a fix for things that did not go to plan earlier in the product lifecycle, so improvements in product planning and inventory execution to reduce excess inventory will have a marked impact in reducing the need for markdowns and maximizing profit. Many of the mistakes being made at the product planning and inventory execution stages are as the result of simplification – aggregation of data and assumptions across multiple stores – which rides roughshod over the variability of customer profiles and demand from one store to another.

A fashionable downtown store in a major city may need a stock richer in traffic generators and high value image items, whereas an out-of-town store in a low income area may need its mix of products to be higher in value items. Fashion retailers have the added complexity of garment size, which means that they need to have a different mix of sizes too, depending on the stores location.

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.

Product Lifecycle management

There are three key points in the lifecycle of any product where the retailer needs to make the right decisions in order to control demand, price and profitability.

These are:

  1. The initial buy, including packaging
  2. The re-buying and distribution of the product throughout its lifecycle
  3. The pricing of the product, including markdowns

A holistic approach is recommended for managing the complete lifecycle of a product. There are a few key points that most people can agree upon:

  • Understand customer demand
  • Marry the art of merchandising with the science of execution
  • Learn and build knowledge
  • Track and react to product performance

The key is to understand customer demand at the micro or store/product level. Maximizing profitability depends upon knowing what customers wanted and when, not just what you sold.

Stock smart

Markdown Optimization has become all the rage of retailers and retail technologists, but what is a markdown and how should we optimize it? A simple definition is a reduction in price, or the amount by which a price is reduced. To mark down is to alter price in order to raise demand. At one time retailers called this exercise ‘clearance’ and marked down the price of their goods just once a year, if ever. That was in the annual sale, a time when demand was low and the retailer wanted to clear excess stock in order to make way for new products.

Today markdowns are a continuous process for the retailer. Clearance sales are seldom annual events. They may be seasonal, and in the fastest moving retailers – fashion in particular – the retailer may choose to mark down items literally every week.

5 tips to avoid markdowns:

  1. Determine the role of every product In the overall assortment and at an individual store level. Have the power to execute the inventory allocation process with a strategy necessary to meet that role.
  2. Understand the type of stock needed at every location by building better clusters or achieving store specific inventory allocation.
  3. Optimize inventory execution so that you have optimal stock in higher traffic stores and avoid overstocking lower traffic stores. You need to understand your current and forecasted customer demand at the store level and convert that into the best stock distributions, considering pack constraints.
  4. Follow a fast fashion model where product lifecycles are shorter. Constantly rotating inventory, especially in fashion keeps your store fresh and gives the customer something new to see.
  5. Create a holdback strategy. Do not push all of your inventory at once, wait to see what sells. Release inventory to high traffic or trend leading stores first to get an idea of consumer interest before allocating to all stores. Retailers can also release their assortment online to see what customers are buying – this will allow you to save on production, distribution and purchasing costs because you will have a much more accurate understanding of what products there is demand for and which products will actually be profitable.

A holistic approach

A new holistic approach to retailing integrates merchandising and fulfillment processes while managing and reporting on inventory from the store-level up, in real-time. It provides merchandising plans, goals and strategies that directly drive product fulfillment. This allows the fulfillment process to be driven by a bottoms-up view of item behavior, fused with plans, goals and strategies. Real-time performance analysis enables a rapid response if a product or location is failing to achieve its goals or has the ability to exceed them.

This concept derives trends from relatively short and recent learning to make accurate predictions of future behavior and drive decisions that maximize inventory productivity. It is unlike traditional ’number-crunching‘ approaches that rely on interpreting trends and forecasts based on huge pools of historical data. As a result this method of analysis has the flexibility to respond in real time and at a much finer level of detail (store level) than would conventionally be possible.

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Managing Markdowns: Why prevention is better than the optimization cure
Dr. Linda Whitaker, Chief Scientist, Quantum Retail

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Get back in the game

Are you ready 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 early on, 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 on replenishment, markdown optimization and allocation, visit: http://quantumretail.com/services/markdown-exit-management/

You can also follow our 4-part 2010 Retail Outlook series here.

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Fashion Innovation Series: Part 2 – Assortment Planning and Range Planning Localization

by Chris Allan • April 25th, 2010 • Write a comment »

This is the part 2 of a 4 part series on Fashion Innovation and Optimization.

KEY TOPICS IN THIS SERIES:

  1. Size & Pack Optimization
  2. Assortment & Range Planning
  3. In-season Replenishment
  4. Allocation Optimization

Look out for part 3 next week, to read part 1 – CLICK HERE. Please engage, start a discussion, or leave a comment if you like this post.

Assortment and Range Planning Localization

Customer behavior has changed…unfortunately retailer processes and systems have not kept up with the pace of that change. The way that stores are assorted needs to change – to reflect how and where the customer now wants to shop and what they want to spend their money on.

Retailers need to focus on changing the way that they plan their assortment and identify opportunities to align their offering with their customers, to drive profitability of every product in every store. To achieve this, retailers need to identify not only the financial objectives for each product in their assortment, but also the merchandise objectives – as these are key to creating a credible offering in the eye of the consumer.

The most important, but over-looked questions for assortment optimization today:

Why is this product in my assortment?

What strategies do I have in place to decide what products to include?

How am I measuring the performance of my assortment on a continuous basis?

How will this product perform in the future?

How am I aligning my assortment with local demand?

When retailers align both the breadth and depth of their merchandise offering with the localized demand of their customers, it increases full price sales and product availability, and ultimately lowers markdown spend.

There are two main areas in planning that retailers should focus right now:

Sku rationalization //

How well is the breadth of the offering aligned to the customer? It is important to identify where you have too many or too few choices for the customer and have the flexibility to execute on those decisions. If you are not doing this, you are creating both markdowns and lost sales. Retailers need to keep this flexibility and continuously monitor the profitability and contribution of each product. This will allow each store to reveal its own patterns and tell the retailer how to best align their SKUs with local demand.

Localizing inventory //

The customer is the most important element of today’s retail strategies. In order to compete in today’s market – retailers of all verticals need to focus on availability and local consumer behaviors. This kind of granular detail cannot be obtained with traditional, data aggregating systems. Retailers need to remove the simplification from their inventory planning process and focus on real-time local demand. This means creating a dynamic inventory plan that is highly reactive to local demand fluctuations, allowing the retailer to be flexible and respond to how their customers are behaving now. This allows the customer to have product available when and where they want it, in the right size, the right color, and the right style at every store and in every channel.

5 Ways to Innovate Assortment Planning

1. Optimizing inventory:

Retailers need to focus on optimizing their assortments and shaping their offering based on both the merchandise and financial objectives of those products. Many retailers are focused on shrinking their offering, but fewer wrong products will not create more sales, it will only frustrate customers. Investing in the right brands and the right products will ultimately bring new energy to the retail market. Understanding exactly where the offering should be contracted or expanded is they key to achieving those goals.

2. Better placing inventory:

Some of the best retailers have not scaled back on their inventory investments, but focused instead on where to place their inventory. Over the last year, ‘flat’ was the new ‘good’, but by putting inventory where there is demand, retailers can increase their sales and profit, while better serving their customers at the same time. Retailers can also hold back inventory to see where it is performing best – and use precision placement of their remaining inventory to increase profit and create fewer markdowns.

3. Increasing availability:

Focusing on which products need to be made available at what locations and when is a difficult task. But when the right products are available, in the right sizes and colors and in the right amounts, stores increase sales and increase customer service levels.

4. Focusing on the intelligent consumer:

The market has shifted with the intelligence of consumers. The economy has further focused the customer on seeking out the highest value for the lowest cost. The environment has also brought to light new values and new criteria that the customer has begun to judge products on. Retailers need to recognize the needs of their customers and give them products that meet these new expectations – and remember, these expectations will continue to change.

5. Focusing on newness:

If a retailer can continually have something new for the customer to see, it will increase the frequency of customer visits and increase turn rates. This is especially important in fashion and consumer electronics, where customers have become increasingly knowledgeable and demanding. If a retailer can keep up with the pace of fashion, they’ll be able to keep their inventory fresh and unique.

LISTEN >>

Learn how to implement better planning practices to manage the breadth of your assortment

Chris Allan, Chief Strategy Officer, Quantum Retail

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You can also follow our 4-part 2010 Retail Outlook series here.

If you’d like to be emailed PDF’s of this series as they come out, make sure to sign up for the email series updates! (we will only send you email for our retail series reports)

Get back in the game

Are you ready 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 early on, 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/services/size-pack-optimization

Download this blog as a PDF.

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Retail Synthesization: Turning Data into Actionable Knowledge

by Blake Weihrauch • April 13th, 2010 • Write a comment »

This series will outline retail trends, innovation and best practices for retailers in 2010. To view part 3 click here. Look for the full 2010 Retail Outlook Review next week. Please engage! What are your thoughts and strategies for retail process integration?

Making sense of Retail data management

Retailers today have much better visibility into what is happening at the store level, however much of this data never gets turned into actionable knowledge. Retailers need to start tapping into the hidden value that is locked in the massive amounts of data that retailers have stored from decade’s worth of history. The most common remark made by tier one retailers is along the lines of, “Our company has spent millions of dollars and years gathering and storing data, but what we lack is the ability to gain any real value or competitive advantage from our efforts.”

The problem lies in the way that retailers have tried to use their giant data cache(s) to derive value. Until now all retail data initiatives have sought to either “analyze” or “optimize” data and some initiatives have been aimed at doing both. To meet the changing demand of today’s retail customers, analyzing and optimizing data are simply not sufficient any longer. There is a third component to this exercise that must occur: Data Synthesization.

To take action – you must react to the data immediately

To understand the difference between these past data initiatives so that we can take advantage of the emerging opportunity of “data synthesization,” let’s look at where it all began.

Retail begins data analysis initiatives

During the late 70’s retailers began storing massive amounts of data. They used tapes, punch cards, reel-to-reel devices and eventually disk arrays to capture all aspects of their business. By the early to mid 80’s consulting firms began to promise large returns from conducting “data analysis” initiatives. These events did provide some return and provided some logical analysis of the history contained within the stored data.

Most of these exercises provided a “rear view mirror” of where the retailer had been, but offered very little intuitive capabilities about where the business might be headed. By the end of the 80’s and into the early 90’s retailers had begun to do a new form of analysis referred to as data mining which is a process of taking a deeper look at a broader range of historical data. Some retailers were so pleased with their efforts that they branded their initiatives as “Business Intelligence.” However, many were still trying to find the value hidden within the transactional archives of their historic data.

Tools for retail optimization

By the mid 90’s, companies had begun to add algorithms and insightful predictions to their business intelligence initiatives. This gave them the ability to predict what the future might look like through the use of “what if” scenarios. These activities and solutions came to be known as “Optimization Tools.” Unlike data analysis, optimization attempted to align the trend components of the past with the perfect or “optimal” plan for the future. This innovation carried through to pricing/promotions, assortment planning, merchandise planning, supply chain planning, visual merchandising, financial planning and all aspects of managing a retail company. But optimization was done in silos within the business or within specific business units, meaning the intelligence was segmented.

Taking action

There are additional short-comings to analyzing and optimizing the data. To start, neither analysis nor optimization was designed to force a retailer to take action. Both data management processes are delivered as a set of “best case” scenarios that require additional manual effort before any value is realized.

Second, customer trends are dynamic and happen on an hourly, daily, and weekly basis in real-time. Retailers and software providers alike realized that to truly “Optimize” any part of a company required an understanding of behavior at a SKU/store level in real-time.

A new era of data management

Currently, analysis and optimization both rely on a full refresh of data (usually 2 years or more worth of data). Refreshing the business intelligence tools or rerunning the optimization tools are massive time commitment for most retailers, thus reducing the value of the solution because the processes simply take too much time. As retailers and software providers struggle with these challenges today, a new era of data management has evolved. To achieve true localization at a SKU/store level, data must be synthesized.

Data Synthesization

Data “Synthesization” is the future of retail data management.

Synthesization (sin·thuh·si·zay·shun) is defined as: (noun) the action of combining or causing to combine into a whole

In retail data management, the term synthesization translates to “Pulling together relevant data points in order to provide an actionable/executable plan based upon the business objectives of any group within the business.”

In the book, “The Adversity Paradox” (p. 18-19) by J. Barry Griswell and Bob Jennings, the authors discuss the importance of this step in achieving business success:

With such a profusion of information, the business savvy need a superior ability to sort and prioritize data, especially in today’s environment of information overload. Information comes at us faster than ever before, and it’s available twenty-four hours a day. Plus, it arrives in greater quantities, and in many cases in ways we can’t control: Between e-mail and text messaging, it’s not at all uncommon for even the average person to receive between fifty and one hundred messages per day.

Messaging alone can easily bog people down in a morass of data. With so much information cluttering the brain, we can easily turn into nothing more than data collectors. Thus an ability to sift, sort, prioritize, store, discard, and stitch together information sets the business savvy apart from others.

Synthesizing is exactly this process. It is the process of turning the data we receive into salient information. In the February, 2006 issue of the Harvard Business Review, Harvard Professor Howard Gardner writes about The Synthesizing Leader. Gardner states,

“The ability to decide which data to heed, which to ignore, and how to organize and communicate information will be among the most important traits of business executives in this century.”

For example, consider the numerous departments within a given retailer (finance, planning, merchandising, supply chain/logistics, marketing, customer service, etc.). There are data points that are relevant to multiple groups (simultaneously), but there is a far larger set of data points that are unique to the role of specific operational teams within a given retailer. Data synthesization intuitively connects data points within a retail organization. This allows each department to address their specific goals/business objectives while considering the larger goal of the retailer as a whole.

Let’s take financial planning and merchandise planning for example, these functions can synthesize the buying process while still considering assortment planning and supply chain/logistics. Visual merchandising and marketing can synthesize with ad/promo planning and store operations to execute on a regional advertising campaign. Another major advancement with synthesization is that everything happens in real time and the software solutions learn from every data point (a form of artificial intelligence). This ensures that activity at a SKU/Store level is considered in decisions that are made at all levels of the organization.

Lastly, synthesization creates an actionable/executable to-do list that retailers execute in order to achieve a goal or objective.

Retail’s common goal

Globally, all retailers have a common goal: Using their data to intuitively meet customer demand at a localized level.

Data synthesization is a good place to start. A majority of retailers already have the data points required to achieve synthesization. Best of all, synthesization projects typically yield measurable returns in as little as 8 to 10 weeks by leveraging the past investments that a retailer has made in data analysis and optimization. In many cases, synthesization projects can be considered a way to achieve additional ROI from previous initiatives.

Real-time execution is your competitive advantage

With the complexity and extent of data that most retailers have, it’s time to look at how to turn your data into execution. It’s also time to realize which data sets are relevant for today’s market. With the dramatic shifts in our economy and in consumer buying habits, the most relevant data retailers have to forecast and plan their strategies – is real-time data. Knowing what your customers are doing and having the power to execute on their behavior immediately – will give your business an extreme competitive advantage.

To learn more about how Quantum achieves data synthesization CLICK HERE.

To learn how data synthesization relates to your specific organization, CONTACT US.

Get back in the game

Are you ready 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 early on, 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.

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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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Aberdeen Report reveals Quantum’s customers are setting a gold standard for best in class retail inventory management practices

by Quantum Retail • July 6th, 2009 • Write a comment »

Aberdeen Report reveals Quantum’s customers are setting a gold standard for best in class retail inventory management practices

MINNEAPOLIS, MN., July 6, 2009 – A new report from the Aberdeen Group has found that retailers with best in class inventory management practices are outperforming others in metrics such as significantly higher inventory turn rates.

The report, entitled Inventory Optimization: Retail Strategies for Eliminating Stock-Outs and Over-Stocks, was co-sponsored by leading inventory optimization software vendor, Quantum Retail.

“Retailers need to be on the top of their inventory game if they want to survive the recession. Balancing store-level safety stock and service levels are the key to success. Retailers such as New Look with the support of Quantum Retail have proactively addressed excess store inventory complexity and reduced 5% of excess inventory from stores through optimized store allocation strategies. The results include improved turnover by 1.5 times and improved gross profit margin by 4% year-over-year”, says Sahir Anand, research director, retail, hospitality, and CPG at Aberdeen.

Aberdeen’s survey shows a majority of the 120 retailers surveyed take five weeks or more to capture demand trends “causing all sorts of seasonal in-stock complexities for stores.” The three major issues retailers are struggling with are: higher inventory carrying costs because of lower sell through rates, higher stock outs for continuous lifecycle items, and heightened need for trend visibility and control of inventory flow.

The report features New Look, a major European fast fashion retailer that has successfully used Quantum’s inventory optimization solutions to set new standards in short lifecycle inventory management. Spencer Maynard, head of stock optimization for New Look discusses how the retailer successfully manages demand in 4 to 8 week seasons to drive best in class short lifecycle service levels of 88%, which drives positive comparative sales, and reduces overall inventory levels. Since implementing Quantum’s solution Q, he describes how New Look has increased inventory turns from 6.5 to 9 times a year.

“The biggest investment a retailer is going to make is in its inventory,” commented Tarik Taman, Quantum Retail’s chief executive officer. “The unpredictable macro economic environment will force retailers to build new core competencies of understanding and reacting to demand trends in days not weeks, and solutions like ours are capable of providing that quickly. Whether retailers are seeking improvements in market share or margin, quickly aligning ordering and store fulfillment to customer trends is the key.”

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.

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Quantum helps New Look buck the economic downturn

by Quantum Retail • May 28th, 2009 • Write a comment »

While many UK retailers struggle, one is moving against the downward trend: New Look.

MINNEAPOLIS, 28, May 2009- The third largest womenswear retailer in the UK saw like-for-like sales rise by over 2.8% over the 14 weeks to January 3. Since then New Look has continued to perform well while other retailers are finding the going hard. The fast fashion retailer was aided by Q a new inventory management system that allows retailers to achieve their goals for every product in every store. This intelligent software updates inventory in real time, telling you when one size is selling faster, when a line is not selling and when a certain item is flying off the shelves. It means the customer gets what they want every time.

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 New Look

New Look is a store young women visit for the latest interpretations of the season’s fashion trends at low prices. With over 850 outlets across the continent, the chain is one of Europe’s leading clothing retailers. New Look’s annual group sales grew 14.9% from 2008-2009, after implementing Quantum Retail’s Q inventory management solution. Q software optimized their business strategies and helped streamline and expand their fast-moving retail supply chain. 2008-2009 FINANCIAL RESULTS »

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Quantum Retail releases Version 2.3 of its revolutionary inventory management and optimization solution, Q

by Quantum Retail • May 26th, 2009 • Write a comment »

Enterprise software vendor to the retail industry, Quantum Retail, has released the latest version of its revolutionary inventory management and optimization solution, Q.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – May 26, 2009 – Enterprise software vendor to the retail industry, Quantum Retail, has released the latest version of its revolutionary inventory management and optimization solution, Q.

Q, which is available in both on-premise and on-demand formats, is now capable of handling all centralized inventory management activities required by major retailers.  Q’s unique bottom up approach to driving allocation and replenishment for retailers includes both inventory optimization and inventory distribution activities. From supplier to store Q automatically drives time phased and multi-tier allocation and replenishment recommendations, with as much or as little user input as desired. It accomplishes this thanks to its superior long range forecasting capabilities and ability to process in real time.

Q serves as a comprehensive demand platform for retailers. It calculates demand and selling behavior for each product, at every store individually, and does not dilute the sku/store demand signals through traditional averaging and aggregating techniques. The demand platform dynamically creates unique SKU/store profiles, for topics including seasonality, day of week, time of day, life-cycle, etc., and manages against supply and demand side events and constraints. This enables Q to make the atomic level adjustments necessary to capture extra full prices sales while greatly reducing inventory investment.

Q also plans orders days or even months into the future by understanding how inventory is likely to be placed in stores and automatically executes those plans as orders or allocations. These time phased order and inventory plans can be configured to handle warehoused inventory, cross-dock, direct store deliveries, and complex internal supply networks. This enables near real-time dynamic re-planning and distribution of inventory to meet merchandising and financial objectives.

The user interface of Q is process driven and extremely low touch, utilizing only six screens for all reporting, analysis and controls, simplifying the experience for the user; Q guides the user through a prioritized work-flow process to accomplish the tasks is at hand. Although most of Q’s processes are automated, the user always has the option to review and override decisions, and can perform ‘what-if’ analysis to understand the impact any changes may have.

For inventory analysis, Q provides deep insight into a retailer’s business by reporting on a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine current product performance, as well as potential product performance based on a series of continuous simulations run by the program. Metrics can be viewed based on constrained demand, and will show current and potential demand based on current availability or scarcity of products. Q will also pro-actively recommend improvements to the user.

Q has been proven effective for virtually all retail sub-verticals, from fast-fashion to hard-lines to grocery. The system has configurable portals for different roles in the organization ranging from senior executives to merchandisers to store managers. Q also comes with optional portals for vendors and other suppliers, to give them more advanced views into future order plans.  Quantum is currently extending Q to support assortment planning and management processes, which will be launched in the coming months.

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.


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