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Revolutionizing Inventory Management in Music Retail with IoT
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Inventory Management Systems
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Private Cloud
Applicable Industries
- E-Commerce
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Procurement
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Picking, Sorting & Positioning
The Challenge
A world-renowned retailer of musical instruments and equipment, with nearly 300 stores across the U.S. and a top-ranking direct sales website, was struggling with its merchandise planning system. The system was unable to keep up with the brand and channel needs, leading to disconnected planning processes and suboptimal decision-making. The retailer was grappling with managing sales for a mix of new and existing products. The existing processes were focused solely on the retail brick and mortar channel and were built in Excel spreadsheets, which were cumbersome and prone to human error. There was no holistic view of 'Open to Buy' across the enterprise. Furthermore, the company was missing alignment between pre-season planning and in-season forecasts as the processes were disjointed, non-standardized and managed in silos. The company also wanted to plan the growth and penetration of private label business and strengthen partnerships with top vendors.
About The Customer
The customer is a world-leading retailer of guitars, amplifiers, drums, keyboards, recording, live sound, DJ, and lighting equipment. With a history spanning over 50 years, the retailer has nearly 300 stores across the U.S. and one of the top direct sales websites in the industry. The company offers a mix of new and existing products, catering to a wide range of musical needs. The retailer was facing challenges with its merchandise planning system, which was unable to keep up with the brand and channel needs, leading to disconnected planning processes and suboptimal decision-making.
The Solution
The company partnered with o9 to get an omnichannel view of 'Open to Buy' across the enterprise, encompassing physical stores and e-commerce channels. This partnership also enabled the company to bridge the gap between pre-season targets and in-season performance while having the ability to plan both Top-down and Bottom-up on a single platform. o9 also helped the company to optimize the planning processes and allow for vendor and private brand planning in the o9 platform. This led the company to collaborate with most meaningful vendors to grow the category business as well as greater collaboration with sourcing teams to grow the private brand business. The company is now using o9’s Enterprise Knowledge Graph for Merchandise Financial Planning. Key capabilities include planning across multiple dimensions of business such as Brands, Categories, Inventory Segments, Vendors and Private Brand, as well as omnichannel planning. It also leverages scenario planning, versioning, real-time consensus planning, 'Open to Buy' management, Top-Down and Bottom-Up planning, reconciliation and approval.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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