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Optimizing

Any shelf planning should meet the manufacturer’s and retailer’s sales and earnings expectations, be aligned with consumer demand and maintain appropriate inventory levels. The planning is not static, but is regularly revised for new requirements and performance indicators.

In XPace, scoring determines the evaluation key figures. Benchmarks are evaluated for the shelf as a whole and for groupings (product groups, manufacturers…). Conversion measures are derived from the actual condition of a shelf and its evaluation, then a new version of the shelf is created.

Evaluate

A completely planned shelf should fulfil several objectives as well as possible:

  • The products of an assortment should be available on the shelf in an appropriate arrangement and weighting.
  • The shelves are supplied with new goods at fixed intervals.
  • The shelf stock should avoid short selling and should not contain unnecessary overstocks.
  • The positioning of products should meet consumer expectations.
  • The shelf should meet the manufacturer’s and retailer’s sales and earnings expectations.

In addition, the simple question arises as to what the shelf actually costs, i.e. what value of goods it represents and what costs its furnishing causes.

Since all product and component data and all quantities are included in an XPace planogram, these evaluations can be derived from the planogramming data. XPace contains several approaches for this.

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Summarize

Here, the values of the articles scheduled on the shelf are determined and totaled (with purchase or retail prices). What is the value of the shelf? What does it cost?

Furthermore, groups of articles (by product group, assortment, manufacturer, brand…) can be made visible in the planogram. The distribution and homogeneity of the groups show how consistent the structure of the space alocation is:

  • Are related articles close together on the shelf? Or are the groups splintering too much?
  • Are block formations in the shelf loading implemented as required?
  • Are there multiple items on the shelf? Close together or far away? Intentional or accidental?
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Benchmarking

Benchmarking calculates key figures for the articles on the shelf. The key figures are evaluated either at article level or in a grouping.

Typical key figures are:

  • Return
  • Gross margin
  • Percentage occupied area
  • Area productivity (turnover per area)
  • Area profitability (profit per area)
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Highlighting

The aim of highlighting is to analyze the planogram according to certain criteria and to display the results graphically.

A simple form of highlighting is the color coding of articles according to a grouping criterion:

  • Product group
  • Maker
  • Brand
  • Range
  • Price group
  • Product family
  • Presentation form, as sales merchandise, demo article or test sample

XPace analyzes the planogram according to the selected criterion and makes related articles color-coded.

More complex illuminations can refer to analysis results and can be identified using performance indicators on the shelf:

  • the fast movers or profit makers on the shelf
  • the slow-moving ones or loss-makers on the shelf
  • the most dispensable articles
  • the most valuable articles
  • the distribution of profit and loss on the shelf space

The graphical and tabular analysis results can be transferred to the clipboard or exported to other logistics and controlling systems.

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Validating

On validation, compliance with conditions and rules is monitored. Conditions can be

  • compliance with packaging units
  • the avoidance of overfilling of fixtures
  • no unacceptable overlapping of products
  • compliance with minimum and maximum limits for products
  • no collision due to weight-related deflection

Validation can either be triggered manually or always run in the background as a permanent validation. Rule violations are registered as errors, warnings or info based on their severity. They can be connected to tasks (to fix the problem).

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XPace implements evaluation with scoring models:

  • Financial Score: measures the monetary result
  • Inventory Score: valuates inventory management and out-of-stock
  • Spatial Score: evaluates room occupancy and zone values
  • Comparative Score: evaluated in comparison with previous periods

The individual scoring values can be combined to a weighted total score.

Restructure

XPace supports the processing operations during the restructuring of a shelf. These can be minor changes or major alterations. The changes can be based on a target/actual comparison, on the evaluation of key figures or on individual decisions.

Calculations, optimizations and key figures are based on performance data (sales, turnover…) and product prices. The performance data and price lists can be imported – e.g. from Excel – into a planogram.

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Refactor

Here, individual items on the shelf are regrouped or resized.

All articles and fixtures can be freely moved, rotated and modified in an XPace planogram. Colors, position numbers and labels are under the full control of the user.

The product blocks of the articles can be resized, filled, aligned and repositioned. With the clipboard and the duplicate function, objects can be copied within a planogram or from one planogram to another.

With the exchange function you can specifically exchange one article in a planogram for another.

Articles can be searched in the planogram. The product blocks of the articles can be synchronized with the product database.

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Exchange

Here, several articles are exchanged for replacement articles across many planograms. XPace has functions for global search, delete and replace.

  • Global search: Searches all planograms for an article number or an EAN/UPC/GTIN. Displays all corresponding planograms and the product items found.
  • Delete globally: Searches all planograms for an article number or an EAN/UPC/GTIN. Deletes all product items in the affected planograms after confirmation.
  • Replace globally: Searches all planograms for an article number or an EAN/UPC/GTIN. Replaces all product items in the affected planograms with a replacement item after confirmation.

The global functions can be applied not only to individual article numbers, but also to complete search and replacement lists. The lists can be transferred from Excel.

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Change size

This refers to the change of the entire shelf. For example, to make a shelf smaller, proceed as follows in XPace:

  • Create a new version of an existing planogram.
  • Display old and new versions side by side.
  • Cluster analysis – this displays the most important and the most dispensable articles per cluster based on a classification.
  • Remove unnecessary items.
  • Rearrange remaining items on the reduced shelf space.
  • Re-evaluate.

There is a separate XPace module for resizing product carriers and for designing your own fixtures: XPace Mockup.

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Merge

Merging is used to assemble a shelf assembly from several smaller shelf units.

XPace ensures a seamless and correct combination of the shelving elements. Prepared modules or standard modules can thus be combined to form entire walls or gondolas.

To merge, proceed as follows:

  • Create new planogram.
  • Add standard racks and modules and automatically string them together.
  • If necessary, change the sequence of the shelf segments or mirror the entire shelf to take a changed customer walk direction into account.
  • Re-evaluate.
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After conversion and optimization processes, old and new versions of the shelf are mutually compared. XPace can automatically generate a modification manual with the necessary changes from this comparison.