We are in the midst of a great transformation in the retail industry. Consumer behavior and emerging technology have dramatically changed the traditional retail model. This is just the beginning. As upstart online retailers mature, their desire to connect to customers in a more personal manner is also evolving. However, the old adage of right product, right place, and right time is also truer now than ever before. Retail 101 is still essential to survival and success. This article presents highlights from a recent BRP special report and shows the importance of investing in a fully integrated planning solution to analyze and utilize data to remain competitive in a rapidly changing retail landscape.

Overcoming Disjointed and Siloed Processes

Modern customers expect to be able to research the products they want on the web, check current inventory status, and then complete a purchase whenever, wherever they feel ready. Although customers take this self-service convenience for granted, the foundation to support it is often cobbled together as an afterthought, which brings about massive management costs and risks for retailers. Ancillary processes like demand planning and space planning suffer when processes and systems are disjointed, as they require data feeds at detailed levels that many legacy merchandise planning systems were not initially designed to deliver. Yet, the report shows that only 46% of retailers currently have formal omni-channel demand planning processes in place.

Efficient Use of Retail Analytics

Accurate planning requires an immense amount of data at various levels to analyze and build models. As such, there is a heavy reliance on business intelligence (BI) tools to extract information and identify trends. The focus of this information differs from a store plan versus a merchandise plan and much of this is still managed manually by many retailers. By knowing that they have the right data integrated across the process, innovative retailers can improve their ability to focus on finding the right products and distributing them to the right places.

Download the BRP Integrated Planning report now to read more about:

  • The many benefits of integrated planning

  • The importance of providing a single version of the truth

  • Case studies featuring retailers who are enjoying the benefits of getting integrated planning right.

  • and much more.

Integrated Planning – Getting it Right