To accelerate growth and achieve business goals, brands and retailers must ensure they have the most efficient internal processes and solutions in place.
Mr Price Group is implementing the end-to-end retail planning solution from JustEnough to set a foundation for its growth strategy, according to Andrew Kenny, Group ERP Director at Mr Price. The company is in the process of adopting the Merchandise Financial Planning, Assortment Planning, Demand Forecasting, Inventory Planning, and Allocation and Replenishment solutions, which will provide the merchant team with a consolidated view of the entire business.
“What we really like about JustEnough is that whether you’re doing assortment, replenishment or financial planning, it all is in one application,” Kenny said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “This really suits our business model because our merchandise planners manage all aspects of the assortment. Everything is fully integrated, so if an item in an assortment plan changes, it will then reflect how sales change in response.”
Advertisement
As a growing retailer with roots in South Africa, Mr Price has several brands across verticals, with approximately 1,000 brick-and-mortar stores and an international presence online. Brands under the Mr Price Group umbrella include: Mr Price Apparel, Mr Price Home, Mr Price Sport, Miladys and Sheet Street.
Although the business was doing “extremely well in the last four to five years,” the retailer has spent the last three years improving specific areas of the organization to meet expansion goals, Kenny explained. For example, the company is increasing investments in systems and logistics in order to expand the brand abroad. Mr Price also recently purchased the Oracle ERP platform, which will replace in-house legacy systems.
Using the JustEnough planning solutions in conjunction with the new Oracle ERP system, Mr Price merchant team members will be equipped to plan, assort, buy and merchandise products more seamlessly.
“The combination of the new Oracle ERP and JustEnough planning solutions will empower us to go beyond our borders,” Kenny said. “It’s about getting a single look at demand and being able to manage our merchandise and assortment across time and different geographies. All countries have different seasons, purchase patterns and preferences at any given time. We have to understand those differences to be successful.”
Mr Price will roll out the planning solutions strategically, Kenny reported, beginning in mid-2014.
