India's leading retail major Future Group on Thursday entered into a strategic partnership with software product firm Manthan to use its analytics tools and big data to spur its next level of growth.
"We are acquiring analytical abilities to look at customer opportunities at a deep and granular level," Future Retail joint managing director Rakesh Biyani told reporters here.
With diversity and uniqueness of Indian consumer posing challenges to understand opportunities in retail markets and stores, Future is looking for flexibility to act on them (opportunities) near real time, on any channel, any product and at any store.
As customer-centric execution is a key to the Rs.960-crore Future's growth, the Mumbai-based group is exploring technologies for developing new competencies.
City-based Manthan offers analytics-enabled business applications, advanced analytics platforms and solutions to about 200 customers in 21 countries across geographies for enabling them take guided decisions and execute them in real-time.
"The localised views of customer demand Manthan's analytics provides will enable us to tailor our assortments, inventory, replenishment, marketing promotions and store engagement to meet needs of our markets and stores," Biyani said on the occasion.
Manthan's suite of software products and solutions will also enable Future Group to make decisions faster and execute them efficiently to realize seven-nine percent reduction in out of stocks, recover five-seven percent in lost sales and achieve 10-12 percent reduction in churn.
The group has also used Manthan's capabilities to drive decision-making in many areas of business.
"Making analytics-driven competencies a reality is a huge opportunity for Indian retailers. Our focus has been on simplifying technologies and statistical sciences to understand customer behaviour and realizing its potential in easy-to-use, business-friendly analytical applications," Manthan chief executive Atul Jalan asserted.
The 12-year-old Manthan raised $110 million through four rounds of fund-raising.
"As our analytics track about 10 million customer transactions in a month from 13,000 product brands and 3,000 suppliers, Future Group will have precise, real-time and actionable information in its 370 stores across 166 cities countrywide," Jalan pointed out.
As a precursor to the multi-year contract, Manthan deployed its suite of analytics solutions in Future's key store brands, impacting the latter's business, including marketing, merchandising, supply chain, stores and digital commerce.
Over the next 12 months, Manthan will partner with Future to drive analytics and information-based innovation.
Future Group will also use Manthan's analytics and big data with Bharti Retail Ltd. with which its retail business is set to merge under a partnership both the companies have entered on May 4 in Gurgaon.
