Retail | Connected Planning

Protecting retail margins with connected planning.

Retail Operating Intelligence

Live Retail KPI Signal

Sell-Through Rate71%

Inventory Accuracy83%

Promotional Forecast Accuracy62%

On-Shelf Availability78%

$1.77T

GLOBAL INVENTORY DISTORTION COST

4.1%

SALES LOST TO STOCKOUTS

40%

INVENTORY COST REDUCTION

Promotional sell-through below target. Markdown risk flagged for review.

THE OPERATING ENVIRONMENT

Four forces redefining the retail operating model.

Structural shifts reshaping how consumers buy, how inventory must move, and how retail margins are made or lost.

Channel Convergence and Fulfilment Complexity

Omnichannel is baseline expectation, not strategy, yet most retailers still manage online, store, and marketplace inventory through separate planning engines — creating excess in one channel and a stockout in the next. As product ranges expand and supplier bases globalise, the variables in a retail supply chain have grown beyond what traditional planning tools can manage.

Demand Volatility and Speed-to-Shelf Pressure

Social commerce, influencer-driven spikes, and weather-dependent categories have made demand forecasting significantly harder, while fashion, FMCG, and electronics cycles keep shortening. First-mover advantage now depends on how quickly the supply chain responds to demand signals.

Margin Compression

Fuel, logistics, and labour cost inflation are compressing gross margins while consumers become more price-sensitive. The difference between a profitable and a loss-making promotional event now depends on planning precision.

Shrinkage and Loss

Global retail shrinkage reached $132 billion in 2024. Operational shrinkage including damaged goods, expired stock, and administrative errors represents a significant and often untracked margin drain.

CORE CAPABILITIES

Planning capabilities built for modern retail operations.

Four connected capabilities that close the gap between how retailers plan today and how the best-run operations protect margin and availability.

Integrated Demand Sensing

We move retailers beyond statistical baseline forecasting by integrating external signals including sell-through data, search trends, weather indices, and social sentiment into demand models that update continuously.

Omnichannel Inventory Planning

We build a single inventory model spanning stores, distribution centres, and fulfilment centres. Stock is allocated dynamically across channels based on demand signals, service level targets, and markdown avoidance priorities.

Promotional Planning and Assortment Financial Planning

We replace intuition-led promotional planning with a structured model that forecasts lift by product, channel, and mechanic, modelling the true cost including supply chain impact and margin dilution, and connect range decisions to financial outcomes through assortment planning that balances breadth, depth, and margin contribution.

Supplier Replenishment and Workforce Planning

We automate replenishment signals to suppliers based on real-time stock positions and demand forecasts, reducing emergency ordering costs, and connect store and distribution centre staffing to forecast demand, traffic predictions, promotional events, and seasonal peaks.

BUSINESS IMPACT

What connected planning delivers for retail.

We used to find out our promotional margins were wrong three weeks after the promotion ended. Now we know before it runs and we have the option to adjust. That is a fundamentally different conversation.

— Chief Commercial Officer, National Retail Group

PROOF POINTS

Results from real retail engagements.

Representative outcomes from connected planning deployments across retail clients.

SPECIALTY RETAIL

52% stockout reduction

Anaplan

Specialty Retailer Reduces Stockouts by 52%

A 300-store specialty retailer managing allocation and replenishment through separate systems was seeing stockouts of 18% during peak periods. We implemented a connected demand and inventory planning environment on Anaplan. Stockout rates fell below 9% within two trading seasons.

FASHION RETAIL

18% budget redirected to ROI

Pigment

Fashion Retailer Connects Promotional Planning to Financial Outcomes

A mid-size fashion retail group spending 12% of revenue on promotions had limited visibility into which were generating gross profit. We built a promotional planning model. The group redirected 18% of its promotional budget to higher-ROI mechanics within the first season.

WHY GENXAI

Why retail leaders choose GenXAI.

Retail Planning Domain Depth

Our consultants understand the specific language of retail planning, including open-to-buy, promotional lift modelling, markdown timing, and assortment planning.

Platform Breadth Across the Stack

We implement across Anaplan, Pigment, SAP, and CCH Tagetik, matching the platform to your retail operating model.

From Strategy to Adoption

The consultants who design your planning model also build it and train your team to run it.

Speed to Value

Our modular delivery approach means initial value is available within the first few months.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions from retail leaders evaluating connected planning.

Yes. We have built integrations with a wide range of legacy retail systems including Retek, JDA, Oracle Retail, and custom-built platforms.

Omnichannel planning across multiple formats and fulfilment models is a standard use case.

Seasonal planning is one of our most common retail engagements. We build pre-season, in-season, and end-of-season planning cycles.

A focused demand and inventory planning implementation typically runs 12 to 18 weeks. A full connected planning environment is phased over 6 to 9 months.

START YOUR JOURNEY

Build a connected planning engine for your retail operations.

Connect demand, inventory, promotions, supply chain, and workforce through one intelligence-led planning layer — and protect margin before decisions are locked in.