House of Fraser has been able to cut its stock levels
and boost its gross margins by linking shelf and space planning
software into stock ordering systems, to give better visibility of
its sales for every store for every week.
The department store group benefited from the greater visibility
of its sales for the first time this year after beginning the
implementation of new software in 2003.
The Store Planning application from software supplier Smart VM
is the final planning tool that House of Fraser has implemented in
an overhaul of its merchandising systems.
The retailer has integrated its planning, replenishment,
assortment and space planning tools into one system called
Merchandise Planner. This gives House of Fraser a single view of
its sales plans.
Director of planning and trading at House of Fraser, Peter
Callaway, said, “Through the combined system that we have put in,
we have a full-range planning process. That process feeds
automatically into our proprietary system for ordering
products.”
Merchandise Planner is supplied by US-based supply chain
management firm i-2, and links to the proprietary merchandise
execution system called Mercatus.
House of Fraser has been using the integrated planning tools to
reduce stock levels at 46 of its 61 stores.
The other 15 stores, which were acquired when House of Fraser
bought both Beatties and Jenners last year, will go live at the
start of the autumn/winter fashion season.
The 11 stores in the Beatties group went live with House of
Fraser’s fashion buying system earlier this year.