Direct Planning: Channel-Specific Planning Software for Direct Retailers

Manhattan Associates’ Direct Planning solution helps multi-channel and direct-only retailers understand and respond to changes in demand, manage inventory more profitably, and maximize sales potential. It provides a consistent way to serve customers whether they shop your catalogs or online.

This flexibility is particularly important as online shopping grows in popularity and the e-commerce channel requires a more focused approach to planning. With the ability to support the different structures, product attributes and metrics used in planning for catalog and web channels, your buyers and planners can take into account event-driven factors like launch targets, circulation and response rates that are inherently associated with catalog and web campaigns.

Direct Planning offers a number of advantages to retailers:

• One integrated solution for planning and tracking performance across your catalog and web channels including forecasting, financial planning, assortment planning and inventory planning
• Flexibility to plan and monitor your online business modeled on your catalogs or as a distinct channel

• The use of structures, attributes and metrics specific to catalog and web channels, such as page number, similar offer, page position, key items and homepage features
• Pre-season and in-season forecasting capability based on similar catalog or web campaigns and actual performance trends
• Information consistency with all departments accessing the same information in one place, in real time

Supporting Financial Planning, Assortment Planning, Item Planning and Inventory Planning, Direct Planning can help you make the best decisions for each channel at every stage of your planning process. You’ll gain visibility across your direct channels to ensure you are on track to meeting your goals.

Contact a Manhattan representative today to learn more about our Direct Planning solution and entire Planning and Forecasting suite.