In today's dynamic retail environment, staying ahead of the competition requires more than just intuition; it demands precision and foresight. Retailers are constantly challenged to optimise their product offerings across multiple sales channels while adapting to ever-changing customer preferences and market conditions. 

Enter SAP Assortment Planning, a revolutionary solution designed to meet these challenges head-on. This cutting-edge software empowers retailers to craft the optimal product assortment using real-time data and advanced analytics. Leveraging sales figures, market trends, and customer feedback combined with forecasting and the power of AI, SAP Assortment Planning ensures that your product range is always aligned with ever evolving customer demands.

rs_Product
  • Centralised solution to optimise retail assortment planning
  • Part of the SAP ecosystem, offering seamless data integration and comprehensive analysis
  • Able to be tailored to meet the specific needs of various industries and company sizes
  • Has a modern user interface designed for intuitive use, ensuring a smooth user experience
rs_Targets
  • Optimisation of assortment management, regardless of size
  • Mapping of complex assortment planning processes from procurement to sales
  • Cross-industry applicability with specific functions for food retail, fashion, electronics, etc.
  • Integration into existing IT infrastructures for smooth implementation
  • Identifying new market opportunities and adapting the product portfolio
rs_Benefits

  • Precise data analysis and predictions of customer behaviour enable rapid identification of trend patterns and adjustments to the product range

  • Automation of product range optimisation with powerful algorithms

  • Saves time for strategic decisions and business development

  • Intelligent analysis of sales data for stock layout optimisation

  • Maximise sales by minimising excess stock and losses

Success Story

Axfood: Achieving Merchandising Excellence - Driving Retail Innovation with Analytics, AI, and Automation

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A solid assortment strategy begins with the collection and use of comprehensive master data, such as product and location information. Once this data is combined with key performance measures, branches can be strategically grouped allowing them to better address requirements. On this foundation, tailored assortment strategies are developed, guided by clearly defined KPIs and communicated through the merchandise strategy. Establishing a direct link to a space planning tool enables precise alignment of assortment optimisation with the specific conditions of each group of locations.

This approach allows you to design your product ranges efficiently and location-specifically, enhancing the performance of your branches.

 

Powerful dashboards offer you the opportunity to optimise your assortment planning in a targeted manner. With detailed analyses of current assortment performance, category managers can make well-founded decisions based on meaningful KPIs. Precise clusters can be defined for each location, allowing assortments to be optimised. This allows you to organise your product range efficiently and in a customer-oriented manner.

 

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Analysing the Performance of Current Assortments

  • Category Managers drive assortment success using KPIs
  • Conduct analysis of sales data within defined assortment lists
  • Visual Merchandisers contribute to a holistic assortment, consider-
    ing product performance rankings, facings, or shelf space allocation

 

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Defining Clusters

  • Organise assortments by KPI for each selectable location
  • Eliminate spreadsheets for data-driven planning
  • Achieve precise clustering through customised store attributes
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Creating Assortment Mixes

  • Build assortments supported by shelf layouts
  • Customise assortments to meet customer needs
  • Maximise category potential by optimising assortments and sales
    within product groups
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Optimising Range

  • Category Managers define the validity of each planned assortment

  • Maximise APL (Assortment Planning for Retail) capacity by directly
    leveraging the Unified Demand Forecast in SAP CAR

  • Utilise reference metrics to estimate expected demand

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The process shows how SAP supports the planning and management of assortments, both short-lifecycle assortments, such as fashion items, and long-lifecycle assortments, such as groceries. The process covers all important steps, from budget planning using SAP Merchandise Planning to the actual allocation of items to the respective assortment lists and the listing of items using APL.