Precise business foresight comes at a time when retail needs it most, Stanford professor says
Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC), the world's largest company solely focused on data warehousingand enterprise analytics, announced recently the availability of Teradata Demand Chain Management (DCM) Release 4, with powerful enhancements in its user interface and workflow tools which improve both efficiency and ease of use. Teradata DCM Release 4 provides greater predictive foresight for ensuring the effective launch of new products. Together with the purpose-built Teradata platform family, Teradata DCM is the most accurate forecasting solution for planning, predicting, and meeting consumer demand. DCM is designed for retailers who understand the benefits of buying what customers want rather than selling, and many times discounting, merchandise they have.
"The increasingly uncertain and dynamic retail environment is pressuring retailers to lower inventory, reduce markdowns, and reduce stocks-outs with fewer resources than ever," said Blake Johnson, consulting professor, Stanford University. "To win in this environment, retailers require advanced forecasting analytics at the store-SKU level, and the ability to cost-effectively plan and execute their supply chains to deliver to this demand signal. Teradata's DCM solution integrates these capabilities and provides the automation required to deliver them cost-effectively at scale."
"Teradata DCM features a sophisticated forecasting engine that supports an integrated allocation and replenishment solution," said Ed Dupee, vice president of global retail industry solutions, Teradata. "It enables the matching of supply to demand and the synchronization of inventory from the store to the distribution centers and all the way to the vendor."
Dupee said that the enhanced DCM solution enables retailers to increase customer service levels by balancing inventory investment with customer demand. "By understanding and accurately predicting demand by store by SKU, retailers are able to increase customer service levels and sales while reducing inventory," said Dupee. "Teradata's DCM solution provides a competitive advantage to retailers as they move to a greater focus on demand-driven supply networks that automatically adjust to the changing needs of consumers."
The DCM solution forecasts demand for individual items for each store based on each item's annual sales cycle, promotional demand and rate of sale. With this information, retailers can make more informed merchandising and inventory decisions. DCM leverages consumer demand data to develop sales forecasts of each item by location, weekly and daily. These forecasts recognize historical performance, are deep in seasonal and causal identification and respond automatically to the latest trends. The forecast is then combined with inventory and replenishment strategies, serving to pull inventory through the supply chain based on expected sales across each location in the network.
The new DCM release features an Intelligent Product Introduction module. "Companies are constantly introducing large numbers of new items to their product assortments to fulfill ever-changing customer demands in pursuit of competitive advantage and sales growth," Dupee said. "While these new product introductions are designed to attract new customers and drive sales, they also represent a challenge for retailers and their manufacturing partners as they try to determine demand for new products with the initial launch." The Intelligent Product Introduction (IPI) module builds on existing DCM capabilities. It determines the best reference item or combination of items at store levels, leveraging historical sales and quick-start forecasts to support new product introductions. DCM 4 functionality gives retailers significantly refined forecast accuracy and inventory balance for new product launches.
Teradata also offers an 'accelerate package' for DCM which bundles the core application with the Teradata database, platform, professional consulting and implementation services, reducing risk in implementation and delivering quick time to value.
"We have seen retailer interest and investment rise in our DCM solution," Dupee said. "Customers have learned that our integrated forecasting, replenishment and allocation solution dramatically reduces out-of-stocks without sacrificing inventory productivity, making them more profitable and competitive."
Companies across industries and the world use Teradata DCM to plan, predict and meet customer demand, including: JC Penney, hhgregg, Overstock.com, Toys R Us, The Liquor Board of Ontario, Pier 1 Imports, and in Europe at Baumax AG, HEMA, XXXLutz, plus The Warehouse (New Zealand) and other leading supermarkets, fashion retailers, department stores, and hardware/home improvement store chains.
About Teradata
Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC) is the world's largest company solely focused on raising intelligence and achieving enterprise agility through its database software, enterprise data warehousing, data warehouse appliances, consulting, and enterprise analytics. Visit Teradata on the web at www.teradata.com.
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