inventory SUITE OVERVIEW

Inventory Suite Get Well-Positioned for Tomorrow s Sale Digital commerce has significantly reduced switching costs for consumers and businesses. As a result, companies in every industry are challenged with finding new ways to acquire and retain customers without buying more inventory. This is why omnichannel selling and delivery options have focused on what companies can do today, at the time of purchase, to avoid losing the sale. The problem is, focusing on maximizing the top line in real-time inevitably uncovers new questions when merchants, planners and inventory managers analyze sales data. In hindsight, could that more costly save-the-sale transaction have been prevented with better planning? Could lost in-store sales due to over-selling of store inventory via the online channel have been prevented? Could the difficulty of managing complex SKU/location combinations be causing an overreliance on promotions to maintain sell-through? The answer: address both today s and tomorrow s problems through better inventory processes and technology. Focusing on maximizing the top line in realtime inevitably uncovers new questions when merchants, planners and inventory managers analyze sales data.

It s a Demand and Deliver World Being able to fulfill orders from stores can lower safety stock requirements at the DC, which changes the approach to replenishment. It also causes planners to re-evaluate their initial allocations. For retailers and wholesalers alike, the complexity of sales data can make it difficult to forecast demand accurately. More granular visibility needs to be accompanied by intelligent automation. Having to plan through complex product hierarchies and SKU/location combinations causes planners to get lost in the details when a big picture perspective may result in better plans.

Why Manhattan? To solve this, organizations need to be able to see and execute using tools that are shared across merchandising, supply chain and sales (ecommerce and store) divisions. According to a 2014 RSR survey, retailers rated collaboration among these three divisions as their top operational challenge 1. The tools these groups share must make the following capabilities available: Iterative adjustments to inventory protections in each channel driven by merchants and planners and executed by sales particularly in the store, where online selling can deplete floor sets and result in lower service levels for walk-in customers Visibility of inventory changes across the network in real-time and the ability to aggregate customer order data across channels Visibility to the inbound flow of products against POs and the ability to adjust and reallocate as needed based on emerging demand Adjustments to inventory segmentation in distribution centers, the ability to drive transfers between those segments to rebalance stock positions based on changing demand, and the real-time visibility to this segmentation provided to buyers Manhattan s solutions made it possible for Staples to shorten in-season re-forecasting cycles by 75%, from one month to one week. Margins and return on net assets improved and inventory turns jumped 25 basis points on Staples supply chain scorecard. STAPLES 1 Retail Systems Research, Assortment and Planning: Changing Times, New Opportunities, November 2014

Make Better Decisions. Using Science. Optimizing inventory across the network requires solutions that are architected to ensure a profitable advantage on both the buy side and the sell side. This involves: Employing advanced mathematical models to anticipate demand, set channel-specific service levels, optimally fill orders and deliver the best balance of profit and customer satisfaction Data transparency up and down the supply network and advanced mathematics to consider all variables across the supply chain Leveraging unlimited attributing, modeling capabilities and improved visibility to consistent information to meet customer needs while staying within budget More nuanced forecasting methods that recognize seasonal and trendbased patterns without requiring heavy user intervention or strictlydefined criteria Manage the Details. But Don t Lose the Big Picture. The challenge of managing complex SKU/location combinations tied to broadly-defined product hierarchies puts a heavy burden on planners and inventory managers to delve far into the details without getting lost. Higher expectations should be placed on the tools they use to allow management at varying levels of detail: Provide the ability to plan assortments within and across channels while maintaining the unique attributes of each Enable iterative processes for planning and forecasting to allow for re-evaluation and adjustments based on changing data Support intuitive workflows and user-definable views, giving users the latitude to evaluate plans without relying exclusively on hierarchy

SUITE COMPONENTS Manhattan s Inventory Suite provides these capabilities, enabling you to efficiently manage your demand forecasting, planning, buying and fulfillment processes from both a service and a profit-oriented point of view. By synchronizing supply and demand simultaneously, you can increase revenue and profitability with the lowest inventory investment possible. Planning Assortment Planning Support channel-specific metrics, structures, attributes and methodologies to optimize the planning process, providing the flexibility to configure attributes for store, web, catalog and wholesale channels. Item Planning Plan and forecast key performance metrics across multiple levels of the merchandise hierarchy down to the item level with an intuitive workflow and user-definable views. Omni-Channel Planning Integrates store, catalog and web planning, allowing you to plan and track individual channels and consolidate across channels to manage inventory at an enterprise level. Combines support for each channel s structures, attributes and metrics with the ability to analyze and plan inventory across channels. Financial Planning Enables an iterative process of tracking performance, refining forecasts and reevaluating assumptions; develop category-level plans by channel for key performance metrics, taking into account historical and planned mix.

P R O C U R E M E N T replenishment vendor managed inventory PO flow management long lifecycle short lifecycle demand forecasting assortment planning financial planning item planning omni-channel planning P L A N N I N G Inventory Optimization Demand Forecasting Anticipates demand and simplifies forecasting by managing infinite combinations of locations, products and forecasting models; differing time horizons and forecasting methods for assortment, financial and replenishment planning; distorted historical data; seasonal variations and exceptions. Replenishment Provides visibility into network inventory and combines forecasting techniques with demand cleansing, day-of-the-week and seasonal profiling tools to increase inventory turns, optimize service levels and reduce inventory. Purchase Order Flow Management Allows for dynamic reallocation of items being shipped from your suppliers to accommodate changes in store inventory requirements and volatility in sell-through rates across your network Vendor Managed Inventory Gives suppliers the ability to manage replenishment inventory across the extended network.