New Innovative Capabilities within JDA Category Management Empower Customers to Run at the Speed of Retail

JDA Category Management 2017.1 enhancements increase collaboration

between retailers and manufacturers to deliver a more fluid, responsive

category management plan in line with consumer expectations

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With the digital supply chain transformation underway, retailers have an

opportunity to reinvent their strategies from the consumer perspective

to best address shopper expectations. This is particularly pertinent

from within the store, on the floor and on the shelf, where retailers

have the biggest opportunity to impact consumer purchase decisions

immediately. Additionally, there is ongoing pressure for retailers to

profitably satisfy customer demand and differentiate their brand to

remain competitive. In response to these market demands, JDA

Software Group, Inc. today introduced new capabilities within JDA®

Category Management that increase the collaboration capabilities

between category managers and store managers as well as with

manufacturers, and enhanced capabilities that give retailers the ability

to thrive in this rapidly evolving market.

“In today’s customer-centric retail environment, getting merchandise

assortments right the first time is crucial to shopper satisfaction as

well as profitability. Given this, we have enhanced several components

within JDA Category Management to move JDA further towards the goal of

providing an ‘always on’ category management platform that runs at the

speed of retail,” said Todd McCourtie, senior director, solutions

strategy, JDA. “We have simplified many aspects of the assortment and

space optimization processes to empower category managers to not only

create customer-centric planograms, but to also unite retailers and

manufacturers together in the planning process for more granular,

localized assortments every time.”

In today's global economy, customers are demanding a more relevant,

seamless and personalized shopping experience. Shopper behaviors, wants

and needs are shifting faster than category managers can respond. With

this in mind, JDA Category Management now enables a more agile,

proactive planning process that can take into account shifting market

dynamics and refine plans on the fly.

Key enhancements include:

Improved assortment collaboration: Via JDA Open Access,
retailers can collaborate with internal stakeholders or trading
partners via a web interface to review scorecard measures when
creating assortments. Stores can review and provide feedback to
proposed assortment plans to better align merchandise with local
preferences and demand.
Consistent user interface: Taking into account direct customer
input, JDA has redesigned its user interface (UI) across JDA Category
Management to provide a more consistent user experience. The UI
refresh provides a modern user experience with optimized usability.
The Open Access Mobile application has been restyled to deliver a
modern look and feel with enhanced intuitive navigation.
Localized space plans and what-if scenario planning: Space
planners can now analyze the outcome of their merchandising rules for
localized space plans before they run them. This allows for proactive
what-if scenario planning which alerts planners to errors or warnings
before the space plans are generated. This enables more successful,
profitable merchandise plans with less user interaction.

“With this release, we continue toward our vision of empowering

retailers and manufacturers to create localized assortment and space

plans, and new capabilities that help them sense and respond to in-store

expectations proactively,” continued McCourtie. “The future of category

management lies within the ability to foster real-time collaboration

both internally between store and category managers, and externally,

with suppliers and manufacturing partners, to deliver a more fluid,

responsive category management plan that falls in line with consumer

expectations.”

Additional Resources:

Read the JDA Supply Chain Nation blog: Meeting
the Need for Personalized Shopping Experiences with Category Management.
JDA will host several sessions on category management at JDA
FOCUS 2017 April 25-28 including:
- JDA Future Series: "Always-on" Cognitive Category Management,
  April 26, 1:30 p.m.
- JDA Category Knowledge Base and Open Access Innovations, April 26,
  2:45 p.m.
- Integrating Assortment Insights into the Category Management
  Process, April 27, 11:00 a.m.
Attend the Digital
Transformation Directive Webinar on March 21, featuring Kevin
O’Marah from SCM World, A Gartner Community.
Meet with JDA at Shoptalk
2017, March 19-21 in Las Vegas.
Join JDA at the Category
Management & Shopper Insights Conference, May 15-17 in Las
Vegas.
Watch this video
on the future of category management.