Retailers are constantly under tremendous pressure to adapt to the changing needs of the market. Consumers are demanding more of retailers and expect products to be available wherever and whenever. Retail operations are becoming more and more complex as they fight to keep up with consumer needs.

For today’s retailer, the key to success lies in increasing operational efficiency by building a unified planning process consisting of their core functions: merchandising, supply chain, and store operations. However, the trio of crippling costs (space, staff, and stock) can prove to be at best challenging, at worst, the reason why businesses fail.

The three costs represent, broadly, the different areas that a successful retailer needs to get right:

• Store planning (from layouts to display units), design and real estate.
• Seasonal employees, staff management, HR, payroll and so forth.
• Supply chain, logistics and stock deterioration.

Each cost area and each core function of retail will play a smaller or greater role in overall success, depending on the retail segment and the individual company.

Developing firm links between a retail operation’s different cost centers or centers of operation, is absolutely key; in fact, a decision made by one department may substantially augment or diminish the efficiency of the others. And this can happen quickly in retail.

There are massive improvements that can be achieved by improving one or two departments individually. But to get exponential improvements, it’s necessary to optimize all processes in conjunction.

The days of retail management having to spend swathes of time on tedious routines and keeping numerous spreadsheets in sync are gone with the help of efficient retail planning software. RELEX’s cloud-based software is the world’s most powerful and comprehensive retail planning solution.

What differentiates RELEX’s retail software solutions from its competitors is the offering’s ability to integrate each of the retail systems typically present seamlessly:

• Demand forecasting, which factors in the impact of external events, like holidays, seasons, trends and even weather forecasts, as well as planned changes in assortment, pricing, store-space allocation, stock policy and promotional activities. Increase your forecast accuracy to plan better in all core functions.
• Intelligent algorithms and user-defined business rules bring automatic replenishment to all product categories, especially effective with fresh produce, seasonal lines, new products, and promotions.
• Cut time spent on ordering by up to 50 percent and improve inventory turnover and availability, giving buyers time to use their expertise to add value, plan around peak seasons, promotions and assortments.
• Run promotions that meet business targets and provide high on-shelf availability without excess stock.
• Space allocation in each store increases sales, makes merchandising effective, minimizes waste, inventory and shelf-stacking work, and frees up space for profitable business initiatives (a café or a click-to-collect pick-up area, for instance).
• Staff management then creates the most efficient shifts by allocating customer-driven, fixed and floating tasks to optimal time slots, while taking account of staff availability, competencies, and contractual terms, with forecasts of both customer volumes as well as incoming goods.

As businesses evolve, RELEX adapts, with no coding or consultancy required. Training is provided during the implementation of the system for users to control and customize the system using a simple, yet powerful, user interface.

Choosing a new system doesn’t have to be high risk, in fact, with RELEX’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, there’s no need for upfront investments in hardware or licenses – users can buy into what they want to use, for as long as is deemed necessary. Return on investment comes in months, not years!

RELEX wants to change how software vendors and retailers interact, in particular. Their offering can deliver real value to their partners, cutting costs & order time, freeing up valuable space, and ensuring promotions have significant impact on the business.

RELEX is actively engaging in partnering opportunities in the APAC region and constantly seeking industry experts who will be able to advise on specifics for that particular market. Whatever the locale, commercial retailers are challenged by the same phenomena the world over, and luckily there are also proven solutions available to overcome these hurdles.

In order to speak to an expert in how cutting-edge retail planning software can revolutionize your growing business, speak to a RELEX advisor today. Start by clicking here