Rockville, MD January 3, 2002 Staples has tapped a collaborative promotions management solution from software company Manugistics Group to help the office supplies giant create and manage multi-channel promotional events.
Staples will use Manugistics NetWORKS Promotions and other Manugistics software modules to manage and optimize its promotions pricing and forecasting process with an eye toward improving profitability and store traffic consistent with business objectives, such as sales volume and market share.
Staples also aims to enhance its ability to target the best items for promotions, to improve the analysis, measurement and tracking of promotions, and to increase the accuracy of its promotional demand forecasts to ensure that once a promotional event begins, products are available where and when customers want them.
The solution will be deployed across Staples' U.S. operations.
Manugistics, which has positioned itself as a provider of "enterprise profit optimization" (EPO) solutions, says that its software will help Staples improve promotional "lift," increase customer satisfaction and enhance profits.
Doreen Romano, Staples' senior vice president of merchandise planning support, said, "We believe the Manugistics solution will help to provide Staples with increased predictability and effectiveness needed to support our strategic goals across the various sales channels."
To create an optimized promotional campaign, the Manugistics collaborative promotions management solution examines such factors as market segmentation, cross-channel impact, product cannibalization, advertising effect, seasonality and product lifecycle on the demand side, while taking into account inventory availability and costs on the supply side.
Campaign results can be tracked and analyzed to help companies fine-tune future promotional events. Staples first plans to use the solution to optimize promotions involving circulars and in-store displays, before extending its use to all promotional vehicles including targeted e-mails and customer mailers.
