Developing a Merchandising Solutions Framework : Developing a Merchandising Solutions Framework Submitted By:
M. SALOMI DIANA ( t-salomi diana)
Retail (Domain Competency Group)
IIM Kozhikode
June 2007
Retail & Manufacturing - Cognizant’s fastest growing practice.. : 1 Retail & Manufacturing - Cognizant’s fastest growing practice.. 5200+ Practice specialists - technical and functional consultants
Serving Leading retailers in, Specialty, General Merchandise and Food & Drugs segment
Comprehensive services – Domain Consulting, Vertical BPO, Application Development, Application Management to Transformational Outsourcing
12 of the Top 30 retailers in the US are currently active clients.
Strong Package Implementation and consulting capabilities in key Retail Packages
Won Computerworld Smithsonian Honors 3 years in a row for innovative solutions delivered to key clients Headcount Growth " This is a significant team accomplishment that has significant benefits to the enterprise. This was done in a very seamless manner without any disruption to the business. You all make this look easy when we know it takes hard work, many long and late hours, personal sacrifices, and teamwork to pull this off.“ ” It is truly a pleasure to work with you - a group of talented people who are so committed to hitting goals, focus on meeting business needs, keep quality top-of-mind, and can have a laugh or two throughout it all” Mike McCabe, Vice President, AC Nielsen David Bergen, CIO, Levis
Slide 3 : 2 Retail Experience : Expertise Supply Chain Planning Supplier Distribution Center Corporate Stores Customers Enterprise Management Merchandise Management Customer Relationship Management Store Management Category Management
Price & Promotion Mgmt
Space Management Assortment Planning
Open to Buy
Master Data Management Store Accounting
POS Integration
Display Management Labour Scheduling
Store Communication Multi Channel Integration
Sales Force Automation
Loyalty Program Management Campaign Management
Sales & Service Self Care Financial Management
HR Management Supply Chain Execution Warehouse Management
Transportation Management
Supply Chain Visibility Procurement & Order Management
Inventory Management Supplier Relationship Management Distribution Network Planning Forecasting & Replenishment Present PROJECT Work Area
What is a CoE… ?? : 3 What is a CoE… ?? A Center of Excellence (CoE) is a small focused group within the company that demonstrates leadership and excellence in a technology area
Goals
Support consistent and successful delivery of projects in the concerned technology
Demonstrate the value of the technology and leading capability toprospects and customers
Build organizational capabilities in the technology through mentoring, training and direct project support
Reduce the cost of development through the harvesting, development and maintenance of assets
The R&D Center and CoE Lifecycle : 4 The R&D Center and CoE Lifecycle Visibility Emerging
technology Trough ofDisillusionment Maturity HypePeak Mainstream Acceptance R&D Center
- Technology Benchmarking
- Proof of Concepts
- Customer Consultation Center of Excellence Stage 1
- Prototypes
- Training
Expert Support
Vendor alliances Center of Excellence Stage 2
- Large scale competencies
- Leverageable assets
- Customer solutions
Project Background : 5 Project Background The present project is a part of the Retail CoE. It comes under the
‘Domain Competency Group’
This team is involved in
Broad training and competency
Create and leverage assets
Customer solution
SCOPE OF PROJECT
This project helps in building the CoE of retail.
Area of focus ? Merchandise Management.
Objective ? Solutions Framework for Merchandise Management
Intended Result ? Solution Accelerator which can reduce time-to-market for the solutions delivered to the clients in the implementation process
Merchandising – Targeted Areas : 6 Merchandising – Targeted Areas
Merchandising CoE – What’s in it? : 7 Merchandising CoE – What’s in it? Reduced
Time to Customer Facilitate Learning Merchandising Concepts
Competency Development
Industry Trends
Capturing Emerging Technologies Project Artifacts Reusable Assets Process Blue Prints
Business Requirements
Case Study Repository
Use Cases/Test Cases Merchandising Solution Framework Standardized solution framework for all merchandising area
Detailed process mapping of core area
Template for collecting customer as-is, to-be processes
Constant updation with emerging concepts as solution offerings increase End-to-end process flows
Use Cases
Project Methodology : 8 Generic Merchandise
Process Flows Identifying the Merchandising Projects Collecting Relevant project artifacts Project specific Process flows Channelone
site Interaction
with project teams Retail Knowledge
Repository Project Methodology Generation of the Solutions Framework Identifying key Merchandising Areas
Execution Methodology : 9 Execution Methodology Identify projects using CHANNELONE Collect KYCs
of Projects
Slide 11 : 10 Project related case studies Sorting projects
according to the
areas of merchandise
they belong to Execution Methodology Cont…
Framework Development : 11 Framework Development Identified areas of Merchandising to develop framework/process flows
SKU Management
Vendor Management
Price Management
Purchase Order Management
Direct Store Delivery
Assortment Planning
Promotions
Markdown Optimization
Space Management
Slide 13 : 12 Step by step process development for all the areas identified Framework Development
Sample Process Steps : 13 Sample Process Steps
Requirements Gathering Template : 14 Requirements Gathering Template Serves as a standard template to gather client’s as-is and to-be processes
Developed Process flows : 15 Developed Process flows DSD Process flow Vendor Management
Process flow
Challenges and Limitations : 16 Challenges and Limitations Project data collection.
Confidentiality of project specific documents ? major hurdle in data availability
Absence of a centralized project artifact repository. Its presence will enable in faster retrieval of the information and in further references.
There are certain areas of merchandise like Markdown optimization, Space Management, Assortment planning where not much projects have been carried out by Cognizant. In these areas the process flows are developed purely on conceptual basis.
9 areas of Merchandising are dealt in total.
Areas not covered due to lack of project information ? Open-to-buy, Category Management, Item Management.
Delivered Result : 17 Delivered Result The solution framework template highlights all the key areas of Merchandise Management Cognizant had delivered solutions
Can serve as a requirement gathering tool.
This can be used as a medium to highlight the domain expertise of Cognizant to the clients
Easy to offer customized solutions based on client requirements
The time involved in process mapping of the projects can be reduced by a significant extent
Recommendations : 18 Recommendations Need for a centralized artifact repository encompassing Cognizant’s projects details.
Solution framework can also be extended to other areas of retailing
Need to focus on upcoming areas/trends in merchandising ? Price/Promotions/Markdown Optimization
Slide 20 : 19 THANK YOU !!