Each time a merchandiser, buyer or planner in Retail makes a business decision around assortment, inventory, pricing
and promotions there is an opportunity to improve both Profitability
and Customer Service. Improving decision making, however, has always been a tricky business for retailers. I have worked in this space for more than 15 years. I began my career as an academic, at Imperial College London,
and then broadened this interest with Retailers, aiming to optimize their merchandising
and supply chain decisions. Planning
the business
and optimizing profit is a complex process.
The complexity arises from
the variety of people involved,
the large number of decisions to take across all business processes,
the uncertainty intrinsic to
the retail environment as well as
the volume of data available for analysis. Things are not getting any easier either.
The advent of multi-channel, social media
and mobile is taking these complexities to a new level
and presenting additional opportunities for those willing to exploit them.
I guess it is due to
the complexities of
the decision making process that, over
the last couple of years working with Oracle Retail, I have witnessed a clear trend around
the deployment of planning systems. Retailers are aiming to simplify their decision making processes. They want to use one joined up planning platform across
the business
and enhance it with "actionable" data mining
and optimization techniques. At Oracle Retail, we have a vibrant
community of international retailers who regularly come together to discuss
the big issues in retail planning. It is a combination of fashion, grocery
and speciality retailers, all sharing their best practice vision for planning
and optimizing merchandise decisions. As part of
the Retail Exchange program, at
the recent National Retail Federation event in New York, I jointly hosted a Planning dinner with Peter Fitzgerald from Google UK, Retail Division. Those retailers from our international planning
community who were in New York for
the annual NRF event were able to attend.
The group comprised some of Europe's great International Retail brands. All sectors were represented by organisations like Mango, LVMH, Ahold, Morrisons, Shop Direct
and River Island. They confirmed
the current importance of engaging with Planning
and Optimization issues. In particular
the impact of
the internet was a key topic. We had a great debate about new retail initiatives. Peter highlighted how mobility is changing retail - in particular with
the new "local availability search" initiative. We also had an exciting discussion around
the opportunities to improve merchandising using
the new data that is becoming available from search, social media
and ecommerce sites.
It will be our focus to continue to help retailers translate this data into better results while keeping their business operations simple. New developments in "actionable" analytics
and computing capacity make this a very exciting area today. Watch this space for my contributions on these topics which will be made available through this blog.
Oracle Retail has a strong Planning
community. if you are a category manager, a planner, a buyer, a merchandiser, a retail supplier or any retail executive with a keen interest in planning then you would be very welcome to join Oracle Retail's Planning
Community. As part of our
community you will be able to join our in-person
and virtual events, download topical white papers
and best practice information specifically tailored to your area of interest.
If anyone would like to register their interest in joining our
community of retailers discussing planning then please contact me at
[email protected]
Willy Rotstein, Oracle Retail
