Allocation

All retailers need a sophisticated solution driven by analytics and automation to better allocate merchandise and optimally manage the distribution of inventory across retail outlets. We approach the problem by delivering software and services to help you:

• Perform demand-based allocations by using advanced analytics to gain accurate insights into customer demand based on fashion and seasonal trends, as well as historical, plan and forecast data to ensure that the right merchandise goes to the right stores from the very beginning.
• Maximize sales, increase turn and boost profitability by location by:
  • Optimizing allocations for each product at the store-size level to ensure that store-level inventory meets customer demand.
  • Using pack optimization to enable users to think at the product level and get results at the pack level to improve size-level precision at the store level.
• Increase productivity and gain more time for strategic activities – e.g., product selection, pricing and promotion – while ensuring optimal merchandise placement by:
  • Automating your lifecycle allocation strategy.
  • Taking a product lifecycle approach to ensure consistent business process.
  • Streamlining allocation processes through management by exception, automatic batch allocation and data management.
• Ensure consistency and flexibility with an automated allocations system based on predefined rules and methodologies that can incorporate your proprietary knowledge about fashion, promotions, seasonal trends and operational constraints.

SAS makes it easy to capture merchant expertise, use advanced analytics and automate a strategic allocation process. The solution is part of an integrated lifecycle planning suite.

Only SAS uses predictive analytics along with advanced automation to help merchants ensure that the right products are in the right stores at the right time to meet customer demand. SAS provides:

• Advanced analytics. Better understand customer needs and identify trends, gaps and opportunities, using advanced analytics to analyze data at any level of the location, time or merchandise hierarchy.
• Optimization. With SAS, you can create optimal allocations using a product lifecycle concept to systematically employ the best possible methodology at the SKU level, at any point in its life cycle. SAS can take these allocations further into the supply chain, through integration with SAS pack optimization.
• Automation. SAS lets you automate your allocation processes, which ensures greater productivity and accuracy.
• Scalability and flexibility. The SAS solution is both scalable and flexible, so you can start where your needs are greatest – configuring predefined methods to fit your business processes – and reconfigure the solution to meet your unique requirements as needs grow and change.

SAS provides a single platform with one database for all your planning needs. In addition, you can expand our solution's footprint to include other capabilities as the need arises.