Product replenishment analytics to support digital commerce solutions

When Solteq announced that the company was acquiring a majority shareholding of Analyteq Oy, this caused immediate interest and reflective murmurings among employees. At that point, the new owner's intentions were probably of concern to many, because the acquisition took everyone by surprise. Now that the dust has settled somewhat and the acquisition has been confirmed, the transfer seems very logical.

Cross pressure among traders

Following a period of relative calmness, the retail sector has experienced big changes in recent years. Throughout the period of transition, one thing has remained constant - the customer experience. Whether we talk about a traditional corner shop or different kinds of e-commerce solutions, is vitally important to invest in the customer experience, to ensure a lasting relationship with each customer, rather than a one-off experiment to sample our goods or services.

At the same time, particularly in the grocery business, consumers have become more informed and demanding. Various media have joined in a dialogue about the management of waste in the supply chain, the amount of food we throw away and the operational ethics of the sector. On the other hand, we as consumers give a very mixed message by demanding a perfect point-of-sale experience, enormous selections of products all neatly arranged on the shelves, with no gaps in the display.

Bringing genuine added value to the supply chain

Analyteq steps onto the bridge at this point. We specialise in producing a demand forecast-based replenishment service, as well as developing supply chain management-related web analytics.

We work in close cooperation with Helsinki-based software company Relex Oy, who have in recent years received a variety of international awards for their forecasting and portfolio management support systems. Our strength, in turn, is Analyteq's versatile utilisation and optimisation of these systems in our respective clients’ operating environments.

Practical examples of our fruitful and pioneering cooperation are system and service entities, in which clients have been able to completely outsource the replenishment of products - something which has previously been a sensitive area of ​​operations. In addition, as a result of the collaboration we have been able to automate, among one of the first companies in Europe to do so, the replenishment of daily products in stores, whilst at the same time reducing waste and improving the availability of products.

Overall benefit to customers to a new level

When we consider in more detail all the above, the arrival on the scene by Solteq is an even more interesting development. In practice, we now have a very broad spectrum of product and service portfolio experts sitting at the same table, which will inevitably produce more synergies for customers.

As an example we may envision the seamless integration of ERP, cash and e-trade systems that support product management and replenishment. This is complemented by service production, which contains advanced analytics to optimise the supply chain. Added to this, we can provide logistics solutions with Analyteq’s other owner, Tuko Logistics. All of this can be tailor-made for the customer's own operating environment and - a noteworthy fact - as a service.

We are therefore at the verge of some very exciting development projects in the sector and the enthusiasm of the parties is understandably palpable.