Retail Allocation Software: Edgars Consolidated Stores Optimizes Product Mix With JDA Software To Boost Sales And Profits Across 900-Store Retailing Group

JDA Software Group, Inc. recently announced that Edgars Consolidated Stores Limited ('Edcon'), South Africa's one of the leading clothing, footwear and textiles retailing group, has realized real results since going live with JDA Allocation powered by Arthur. In addition to improving its stock balances by 12.9 percent and 7.9 percent respectively at its Department Store and Discount Divisions, the retailer is now handling complex allocations twice as fast.

With 10 retail brands trading in more than 900 stores in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho, Edcon selected JDA Allocation software to maximize sales, customer satisfaction and overall profitability. The retailer has been using the JDA application for six months now following an accelerated implementation that was completed on time and on budget with JDA consultants.

"With our former system, we were not able to optimally balance stocks in our stores, which resulted in our not having the best possible allocations," said S'nia Afonso, Edcon's business integration manager, supply chain merchandise. "JDA's Allocation solution enables us to efficiently target the optimal mix of products for each store."

"Edcon wanted to empower its merchants with a full range of sophisticated techniques and allocation algorithms. We are pleased that JDA Allocation software is providing the flexible and functionally-rich capabilities that Edcon needs to improve and automate processes," said Arnaud Decarsin, JDA's regional vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa. "By increasing visibility to key consumer insights and data, JDA Allocation software is helping another JDA customer make smarter decisions for more profitable results."

Time to Complete Complex Allocations 'Cut in Half' with JDA In addition to making better decisions to maximize its inventory investment, Edcon is also making faster ones. "Our planners no longer need to run any manual allocations, which saves us 26 minutes of planner time for every manual allocation that they previously had to run. With JDA Allocation we've cut the time in half for our planner to complete complex allocations from start to finish," said Afonso.

Accelerated Implementation During Peak Holiday Trading The success that Edcon is now experiencing with JDA's software was hard won. The retailer had a short four-month timeframe to replace its former system and processes with JDA's solution. The project team raised the stakes by launching the implementation during Edcon's peak trading period of the Christmas holiday. Pressed with a tight schedule, Edcon conducted system, integration and user acceptance testing in parallel. The project team encouraged merchants to pre-allocate as many allocations as possible in the old system before cutting them over to the JDA Allocation software. In addition to allowing merchants time to adapt to the new system and processes, the team also ensured that they did not run the risk of causing any delays in Edcon's supply chain.

"We managed this challenge exceptionally well by having the JDA resource available during these phases thus ensuring quick resolution," says Afonso.

About JDA Software Group, Inc.
JDA Software Group, Inc. is the enduring demand and supply chain partner to the world's leading retailers, manufacturers and suppliers, helping 5,500 customers in more than 60 countries realize real demand chain results. JDA has solidified a unique marketplace position, in that only JDA can offer a complete vertically-focused solution with the depth and breadth of capabilities necessary to enable the Customer-Driven Value Chain. JDA software solutions enable high-performance business process optimization and execution to achieve a connected view of the customer from raw materials flowing into production to end-consumer products at the shelf. With offices in major cities around the world, JDA employs the industry's most experienced supply and demand chain experts to develop, deliver and support its solutions.

SOURCE: JDA Software Group, Inc.