| Additionally, the software would help empower store managers to make fast, accurate decisions on inventory as well as forecast the retail trends. |
| The solution is tightly integrated with features of Microsoft Office 2003 such as MS Excel, MS Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. |
| "Predominant users would be merchandise managers, category managers, retail managers, store managers, store owners and senior executives in organised retail and all computer literate retail owners in the unorganised retail sector," Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd, Senior Product Manager, Office and Localisation, Raveesh Gupta said in an interview with Business Standard. |
| Office for Retail is the 'Office 2003' software, powered with special retail tools that serve as a guide to develop and improve retail management functions of budgeting, forecasting and reporting. |
| The features of the Office for Retail solution will include graphical consumer trend reports and buying patterns, linear and style grid inventory management, master creation using MS Excel, yearly/quarterly sales forecasting, inventory and budget forecasting, and cash flow forecasting. |
| The software would be available for purchase from retail stores, and through the 3,000 channel partners in the next few weeks sold as a bundled license with Office XP. |
| According to an ICICI report, the Indian retail industry (organised and unorganised) is pegged at $ 286 billion and is expected to grow at 8.3 per cent during 2003-2008. Food and beverages followed by apparel and footwear are the biggest components and together account for 60 per cent of consumer spending. |
| The report also points out that there are 12 million retail outlets in India with the share or organised retailing being at a mere 2 per cent. |
| "To effectively compete with the global giants, the smaller Indian retail outlets need IT to automate the store operations to stay competitive," said Gupta. |
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