By Yan Krupnik, Marketing Manager, Retalon
Procurement is a critical part of the retail business model. It is one of the most carefully crafted processes in the supply chain, constantly being perfected as retailers continue to find new ways to optimize the process. Over the past few years, retail technology has become a hot topic. According to a recent KPMG report retailers “seem to be leveraging their systems and technology better than other sectors, with 50% of Retail respondents indicating ‘leading’ characteristics in this area.” With retailers collecting more data than ever, simply combing through this data and analyzing business intelligence reports is no longer enough to stay competitive. When it comes to procurement, retailers want to stay lean and agile, which means being proactive. No wonder retail predictive analytics systems have received so much attention.
Before we jump into the exciting things predictive analytics brings to the table, it is important to understand that procurement is not an independent process. There are many other important factors and processes that affect procurement. In order to optimize the procurement process using predictive analytics, it is vital that all aspects of the retail supply chain are taken into account when making calculations. Simply running a procurement management system will cause inaccurate reports and missed opportunities, as well as additional and unnecessary costs. A good predictive analytics system will analyze the entire retail process at the same time and produce smart suggestions for the procurement decisions (proactively).
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