3 Things You Cannot Ignore In Merchandising Software
For retailers, merchandising software needs to provide accurate information in three vital areas:
- the historical data
- the real-time information
- and the analysis to stock profitably in the future
Ignoring these things means the merchandise you invest in is not the merchandise your customers are looking for.
The Past
Without access to the historical data about a product or vendor, valuable insight is missing. How can you make sense of products, suppliers, purchases, and sales performance without having the past to compare for analysis? A centralized database, integrated and accessible, makes reports and analysis accurate and effective.
The Present
The goal of merchandising is to have the right products in the store where they are in demand. Automated replenishment is a good way to monitor and replace stock as needed, but it has to be flexible so that variables are taken into account. Stock-outs in a particular size, seasonality, and promotions are just some of the factors that affect replenishment. Real-time information provides the intelligence that gives insight into when an automated process needs to be adjusted.
The Future
It would be fun if merchandising were a matter of waving a magic wand and *poof* the right stuff appears. That is not how it works, though. The products in the store today were ordered in the past, and the inventory available in the future has to be decided on now. ChainDrive’s Merchandising software solution utilizes formula-based methodologies for product allocation. This control extends to the SKU-Store level.
Reports and analysis tools enable extensive review with multiple views and outputs. Products, suppliers, SKU performance, and related actions are analyzed accurately. This makes access to pertinent information almost as easy as waving that magic wand.
Making the right merchandising decisions so that the right stock is available when needed is a challenging task. Access to historical information, and real-time data results in future profit through intelligent merchandising decisions.
