Supervalu,
the $45bn national US retail chain, has standardised on 3D store
planning software originally developed by UK retailer Tesco and
supply chain specialist software house
JDA.
The deal, which covers around 2,500 stores, was announced in the
UK yesterday by Hamish Brewer, JDA's CEO, at a customer conference
in London. No financial details were released.
Brewer said Tesco had been looking for a store planning system
that would accommodate each store's unique characteristics. At the
time, the available applications could cope with "clustered"
stores, he said. These were stores that fitted a predefined model
for location, number of items carried, customer footfall, and so
on. Tesco felt it wanted greater insight into each store to manage
it better.
"They asked us if we could do it, and we said yes," Brewer said.
While JDA did the coding, Tesco specified the system and tested
what became the
Intactix
application.
Intactix allows retailers and consumer packaged goods firms to
see on screen in colour how their products will appear in an
individual store. This allows packaging designers to optimise
designs to catch consumers' eyes in the fraction of a second they
give a shelf as they shop.
It also allows retailers to plan promotions better and to locate
bulky items in places where they are most likely to attract buyers.
It produces a full colour 3D image that shows shelf packers
precisely how to load the shelves with a particular product.
Brewer said Intactix' development was integral to the way JDA
now develops products. He said the firm, for a long time, made
products it hoped people would buy. It changed its approach when
this proved frustrating. Now customers largely drive JDA's product
development strategy, he said.
