TXT Thinking Retail New York: The Stars Of The Industry Focus On Integrated Planning For The Omni Channel World

Thinking Retail, the must attend industry event dedicated to merchandise and assortment planners, will be held in New York on May the 22nd. Organized by TXT MAPLE LAKE, the leader in end-to-end integrated planning solutions for retail and fashion, the event will bring together the industries brightest and best for this focused symposium: experts from Gartner, Columbus Consulting, Capgemini, RIS News and Microsoft. Also on stage with case studies and real-life examples will be TXT MAPLE LAKE customers Aerosoles and Thirty-One Gifts.

Sessions will cover best practices such as: Planning for the Omni Channel Shopper; Creating compelling merchandising strategies and customer-centric assortments; Forecasting and analyzing demand to increase inventory ROI. One message across all presentations will be that unprecedented transformation in the industry – new generations and changing customer behaviors, omnichannel, mobility - calls for new approaches in all levels of merchandise planning: “vertically” from strategy to merchandise, assortment and supply chain execution, as well as “horizontally” across all channels.

In his keynote speech, Robert Hetu Research Director at Gartner will emphasize how integrating the customer view with planning, seeing customers as “collaborators” is also top priority in the digital era: “For too long, retailers have adopted a product-centric approach to merchandising with an internal focus that chooses to perpetuate what has traditionally provided sales. Future successful retailers will procure, source and develop products and services as demanded by the customer.”

Joe Skorupa, Editor-in-Chief, RIS News, will be moderating an expert round table focused on Assortment Planning systems and featuring the participation of Robert Hetu, Gartner; Ben Pivar, the Senior Vice President, North America Retail Lead of Capgemini; Jon Beck, the CEO of Columbus Consulting; and Peter Charness SVP America and Global CMO for TXT.

Throughout the day, the innovation “hub”, will be the area where delegates can see TXT’s end-to-end planning solutions in action through live demos: from design; to forecasting; to assortment and in-season management, including the latest developments in the field of visualization and mobility.

“What makes the Thinking Retail conference so strong is its unique focus,” comments Peter Charness, Chief Marketing Officer at TXT. “Top industry professionals meet together to talk ‘end to end’ retail planning with a specific emphasis on merchandising and assortment in a mixed distribution world. If your business faces challenge in shortening supply chain lines, and planning a complex and mixed or omni-channel sales and delivery operations, then this is a must attend event. Plus, the conference offers a great opportunity for networking with senior executives from the leading retail and brand manufacturing companies.”

Thinking Retail New York follows the success of the Berlin event held in March this year with over 150 delegates in attendance and the participation of TXT’s customers Adidas, Bestseller, HR Group, Lacoste, Levi’s and Ulla Popken.

About TXT MAPLE LAKE
TXT MAPLE LAKE is the first mover and leading provider of integrated and collaborative End-to-End retail solutions for the Luxury, Fashion and Consumer sectors. The TXT Perform collection of solutions covers planning, intelligence and execution, and supports strategic business processes for all types of Fashion and Luxury retailers worldwide. TXT MAPLE LAKE has 500 employees and 350 customers worldwide, including leading global brands and apparel and accessories retailers. Headquarters are in Milan and support centers in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, UK, Canada, USA and Australia. For more information, visit www.txtgroup.com.