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Clear Demand: Orchestrating OmniChannel Retail Turnarounds by Understanding Consumer Demand
James Sills’ insatiable childhood curiosity with how things work led him to Georgia Tech and a career in engineering, where he established a foundation which would later serve him well in building leading retail pricing software companies. “The present-day sophisticated shopper, armed with a smartphone, is aware of competitor pricing and broader assortment choices when entering a Brick and Mortar store, whereas the retailer may be unaware of competitive price options. The impending need for retailers is a more dynamic and data-rich analysis of consumer demand and competitive data-regardless of channel or consumer touch-point,” states Sills, the President and CEO of Clear Demand. Clear Demand recently announced the industry’s first OmniChannel Demand Management platform.Delving deep into his retail industry experience spanning over 25 years, and armed with a clutch of retail industry patents and articles to his credit, Dr.Sills details the intricacies of the inevitable turnaround required by present-day retailers: “The playing field between online and ‘Brick and Mortar’ stores has to be leveled, which begins with more dynamic competitive pricing, more rigorous and automated retail price management and evolved pricing science and price optimization software which respects merchant rules. These are fundamental to our solution philosophy and core to our commitment to helping retailers compete more effectively.”
In the “art and science” of pricing, Clear Demand’s solutions deliver science, which provides retailers with rapid analysis of how pricing, promotions, and markdowns influence demand and sales. The volumes of data tapped from store sales, online purchase behavior, mobile, social media, loyalty programs, and competitive pricing history are analyzed by Clear Demand’s OmniChannel Demand Management platform to understand the value associated with any factor (attribute) which relates to a product purchase. Examples of attributes include product specifications, price/promotion, competitor prices, channel, product placement, and fulfillment (e.g. reserve online–pick-up in-store). Incorporating product attributes, channel and competitor in a “single view of the enterprise,” the platform delivers retailers with more precise and repeatable merchandise intelligence to plan assortment, prices and promotions, across channels. Clear Demand works with leading providers of competitive pricing data such as 360pi to deliver real-time automated competitive alerts and price response.
“Some retailers know they provide a premium shopping experience and others know they are low cost leaders. They also know shoppers have become more discriminating on price, irrespective of the retail brand. We help them understand the tipping point (price) necessary to make a sale,” explains Sills. For a Tier1 retailer who wanted to understand the tipping point based on their price gap with a competitor, Clear Demand’s pricing science recommended optimum pricing for good, better and best products, he adds.
Elaborating on current retail pricing software technology, Sills says, “The gain for retailers with current technology lies in forecasting demand across channels under various price, promotion and markdown pricing scenarios;where analytics foretell profitability and the efficacy of a price strategy before it begins.”These same analytics help retailers make assortment decisions across channels (in-store, online) based on a rigorous understanding of demand and product-line relationships. “In a particular instance, we demonstrated to a retailer, that 75 percent of the sales for a new product introduction came from cannibalizing sales of an existing related item,” states Sills. The platform simplifies and automates the process for setting retail price strategy and executing intelligent price, promotion, assortment and channel decisions.
Sills’ appreciation for team sports, football in particular, has him extol on how team building, coupled with good coaching, leadership and thoughtful strategy at Clear Demand helps generates great results for retailers.“We are committed to building a center of retail excellence, leading through innovation, while paying close attention to the user experience with our product as well. Our mission is to help retailers compete more effectively with practical innovation which complements and not disrupts the art of retailing.”
Website: http://cleardemand.com/
Our OmniChannel retail platform helps retailers understand consumer demand across channels and set strategy for price, promotion, product and channel
Elaborating on current retail pricing software technology, Sills says, “The gain for retailers with current technology lies in forecasting demand across channels under various price, promotion and markdown pricing scenarios;where analytics foretell profitability and the efficacy of a price strategy before it begins.”These same analytics help retailers make assortment decisions across channels (in-store, online) based on a rigorous understanding of demand and product-line relationships. “In a particular instance, we demonstrated to a retailer, that 75 percent of the sales for a new product introduction came from cannibalizing sales of an existing related item,” states Sills. The platform simplifies and automates the process for setting retail price strategy and executing intelligent price, promotion, assortment and channel decisions.
Sills’ appreciation for team sports, football in particular, has him extol on how team building, coupled with good coaching, leadership and thoughtful strategy at Clear Demand helps generates great results for retailers.“We are committed to building a center of retail excellence, leading through innovation, while paying close attention to the user experience with our product as well. Our mission is to help retailers compete more effectively with practical innovation which complements and not disrupts the art of retailing.”
Website: http://cleardemand.com/
