RedPrairie Announces Store Forecast Solution

RedPrairie Corporation, a productivity solutions provider, announced its Store Forecast, the first forecasting solution that synchronizes inventory Flowcasting and workforce management (WFM) technologies.

 

"Eighty-five percent of retail out-of-stocks are due to in-store issues, in two major varieties," says Steve Banker, ARC Advisory Group Director, Supply Chain Management. "First, retailers often find that while there is inventory in their stores, shelves are often not replenished, or not replenished in a timely manner. Second, store systems might show more product available than what really exists in the store, creating what we call 'phantom inventory.'"

 

The Store Forecast solution offers a single demand stream based on store-level item transactions to help guarantee the right people and products are in the right place at the right time, to execute the right tasks.

 

The Store Forecast solution triggers inventory replenishment by operating on demand signals from point-of-sale (POS) data, while also combining with execution management for events such as promotions to drive scheduling and various tasks through WFM.

 

RedPrairie conducted research in the field with retail and distribution center manager and thereby was able to identify a disconnect between labor and inventory that negatively impacts the customer shopping experience--most evident in scenarios such as out-of-stocks. That experience showed the leading cause of out-of-stocks to be not interruptions in the supply chain, but the lack of scheduled employees to shelve products and assist customers once the product reaches the storefront.