DALLAS, May 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Symphony RetailAI, the leading global provider of Artificial Intelligence-enabled decision platforms, solutions and customer-centric insights that drive validated growth for retailers and CPG manufacturers, today announced a powerful new AI-enabled promotional planning solution, SR Promotion PlanningAI. The solution utilizes the power of AI and machine learning to give category managers the prescriptive recommendations they need to accurately forecast and plan promotional events, measure effectiveness and adjust tactics with agility.
The powerful AI-based forecasting model provides recommendations and what-if analysis, allowing users to adjust the promotion parameters in real-time to maximize sales, margins or volumes. SR Promotion PlanningAI also brings the power of artificial intelligence to promotional circulars to maximize promotional lift and store traffic.
“Promotion planning today is filled with guesswork, uncertainty and manual processes. There are many technology solutions in the market that are primarily workflow tools to help retailers and CPGs be more streamlined in their execution and planning of promotions. But that’s just table stakes,” said Sy Fahimi, SVP Product Strategy, Symphony RetailAI. “The truth is most existing solutions are woefully inadequate in forecasting actual promotional performance, and do not effectively connect the planning, forecasting and evaluation stages to optimize the best tactics and promotions for highest return.”
SR Promotion PlanningAI analyzes year-over-year promotion effectiveness to provide recommendations to maximize sales, margin or volume. For example, the solution might suggest that of 10 previous promotions for 4th of July, eight performed well, and with slight adjustments, they are forecasted to yield great results again. The system will also analyze data of ineffective promotions and provide actionable alternatives to boost sales. SR Promotion PlanningAI enables users to run what-if tests to see if a percentage discount, dollars off, BOGO, or other tactic is forecasted to be more profitable.
With the solution’s AI-driven forecasting abilities, once a user determines the specifics of the promotion, they can test creatives for sales lift. The drag-and-drop functionality of the platform gives further insights into sales lift with optimal placement in circulars – front page, back page or somewhere in the middle.
SR Promotion PlanningAI’s promotion forecasting was recently tested by two large grocery chains, and the results in both cases generated significantly better predictions of actual sales than the retailer’s existing methodology. In the first test, four past promotions were randomly selected to validate against the retailer’s internal forecast. When looking at the variants, three of the retailer’s predictions were over or under by 18%. But the fourth promotion, however, was predicted 89% over, meaning the forecast was close to double what actual sales were. Comparatively, the same forecast using the SR Promotion PlanningAI was four times better – only 20% over compared to 89%. Other forecasts were within 10% of the actual results.
Similar testing was performed with another retailer, where five different product categories were selected. Original sales lift from those categories generated over $3 million. SR Promotion PlanningAI forecasted an optimized sales lift worth more than $11 million, almost four times higher sales lift versus what the retailer actually ran. The machine learning is only expected to improve as more data is collected.
“Until now, there has been no way to properly connect the three stages of promotions,” said Dr. Pallab Chatterjee, Chairman and CEO, Symphony RetailAI. “We are excited to provide a solution that, frankly, does not exist in the market today, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to forecast the best promotions based on previous performance. Armed with the knowledge of the right promotion and tactics, retailers and CPG manufacturers can be more confident in achieving their business goals.”
SR Promotion PlanningAI is currently being used by several retailers and will soon be made available to CPG manufacturers.
Learn more about the SR Promotion PlanningAI, here.
About Symphony RetailAI
Symphony RetailAI is the leading global provider of Artificial Intelligence-enabled decision platforms, solutions and customer-centric insights that drive validated growth for retailers and CPG manufacturers, from customer intelligence to personalized marketing, and merchandising and category management, to supply chain and retail operations. Symphony RetailAI is innovating rapidly to drive faster, more profitable decisions through AI, machine learning and voice technologies. We are trusted by over 1,200 organizations including 15 of the world’s 25 largest grocery retailers, thousands of retail brands, and hundreds of national and regional chains worldwide to help solve their toughest business problems, through AI-powered customer intelligence and retail solutions. Symphony RetailAI was formed in January 2018 incorporating Symphony GOLD and Symphony EYC into the company as the Retail Solutions Division and Customer Intelligence Division respectively. More at www.symphonyretailai.com. Follow us on Twitter: @symphonyretail.
Media Contact
Adrienne Newcomb
Ketner Group Communications (for Symphony RetailAI)
adrienne@ketnergroup.com
512-794-8876