UK retail firm Marks and Spencer is rolling out new technology to manage the end-to-end inventory forecasting, replenishment and order planning needs for its food division.
The high street retail giant has chosen Quantum Retail's software solution, Q, to support the programme.
The new M&S system is designed to forecast and make inventory decisions in real-time while considering both inter-day and intra-day stocking. It forecasts demand at an individual item/SKU level for every store, while buying decisions are made based on current stock levels, as well as considerations such as daily selling patterns, product life-cycle, seasonality, projected waste, target service levels and inventory availability.
M&S reported that it began running Q for the first area of merchandise in less than six months. Rollout is planned to commence in 2010.
"We aim to provide M&S with capabilities that can provide real competitive advantage in the marketplace," said Quantum Retail's chief strategy officer and co-founder, Chris Allan.