NAG components add statistical advantage to global retailers

In today’s highly competitive retail market retailers need the most advanced and up to date software capabilities to achieve advantage over competitors and maximize profits. DemandTec provides the retail and consumer products industries with Consumer-Centric Merchandising software, which enables the planning, optimization and execution of merchandising and marketing programs based on a holistic understanding of consumer demand. No other company has as broad a merchandising planning and optimization software suite as DemandTec, nor does any other vendor have the large number of successful deployments with blue chip companies around the world.

A Different World

Retailers today face a different world than even five years ago. Fierce competition and the availability of massive amounts of data has driven even regional retailers to optimize supply chains, pricing and other critical aspects of their business. To meet these needs, DemandTec, Inc., the retail industry’s leading Consumer-Centric Merchandising software provider, recognized the need to deliver, to retail clients, modelling and analytical capabilities that would have seemed like science fiction just a few years earlier.

To realize its vision for a software architecture that could meet these demands, DemandTec knew that it needed an advanced analytics partner that could meet its current requirements and work with its science team to rapidly create new functionality as customer requirements evolved. After an intensive evaluation process DemandTec turned to NAG to supply the mathematical and statistical components needed in their software because of NAG’s longstanding reputation for quality and a track record of supplying code for dozens of ISV applications.

Code + Expertise = Results

In addition to NAG’s deserved reputation for accurate, robust and thoroughly documented code, DemandTec was particularly attracted to NAG’s extensive statistical functionality (300+ routines) including techniques such as Mixed Effect Regression, Correlation and Regression Analysis, Multivariate Methods and Time Series Analysis to name a few. Equally important for DemandTec was NAG’s staff of algorithmic experts and software engineers who were not only available to help the DemandTec team with integration issues but were also capable of creating entirely new methods for incorporation into DemandTec’s code.

Demand Management in Action

B&Q, the premier DIY retail chain in Europe utilizes DemandTec PriceTM, a web based software application, to more effectively manage their product pricing strategy. The software helps B&Q quickly understand how customers react to price changes to provide the best value to consumers while still meeting B&Q’s business goals.

Another blue chip company reaping the rewards of DemandTec’s Consumer-Centric Merchandising software is Fortune 50 food and drug retailer Safeway. DemandTec PriceTM and DemandTec PromotionTM support Safeway’s sales and marketing objectives and goals by enabling the company to determine and plan pricing and promotions based on the needs and wants of Safeway customers.

Partnership for Success

When it comes to creating cutting edge software to create retail and consumer products success, it is virtually impossible to assemble the customer knowledge, modelling science and algorithmic expertise within a single firm. DemandTec recognized this early on in its relationship with NAG. In the words of DemandTec CEO, Dan Fishback, “Partnering with NAG brought us world class software and algorithmic expertise that was a perfect complement to our customer, data and modelling knowledge and experience. NAG software and experts gave us the confidence to translate our ideas into market-leading software for our customers.

Rob Meyer, CEO of NAG, was involved in discussions with DemandTec from the beginning, adding “DemandTec quickly recognized how the market for demand management software was evolving and how their and our unique capabilities could combine to create unique solutions for customers. They have been an outstanding partner.

Learn More about DemandTec

DemandTec, an IBM Company, is a network of cloud apps and insights for more than 500 retailers and consumer products companies, providing common solutions to transact, interact, and collaborate on core merchandising and marketing activities. DemandTec’s services enable customers to achieve their sales volume, revenue, shopper loyalty, and profitability objectives. Approximately 16,000 retailer and manufacturer end-users on DemandTec collaborated on more than five million trade deals to date. DemandTec software and analytical services utilize a science-based platform to model and understand consumer behavior. DemandTec customers include leading retailers and consumer products companies such as Ahold USA, Best Buy, ConAgra Foods, Delhaize America, General Mills, The Home Depot, Monoprix, PETCO, Safeway, Sara Lee, Target, Walmart, and WHSmith.