Retailers are witnessing a paradigm shift with the return of the inventory stock-building cycle seen in the pre-1980s—significant upswings in inventory holdings of up to 40% triggering negative shareholder sentiments.

We believe this indicates a lasting shift from Just-in-Time production, which was based on frictionless borders, to Just-in-Case stock-building, acting as insurance against supply chain hiccups. Through Fractal’s inventory optimization offering, we help Retailers better manage inventory risk with advanced digital capabilities for long-term supply chain success through the integration of purpose-built AIML capabilities.

Our capabilities range from Predictive analytics, which develops alerts and early warning indicators on excess and obsolete inventory to increase end-to-end Inventory visibility for better decision-making, to scenario planning to inform optimal strategies & predict the future impact on capital allocation to inventory, sell-through levels & markdowns.

We’ve partnered with clients to unlock value across their supply chains; below are some examples:
  • $1Bn savings through end-to-end inventory optimization
  • Reduced approx. 40% target norms & Safety stocks
  • Improved order allocation process, resulting in increased service levels.

Demand forecasting has been traditionally driven by statistical techniques, but the advent of advanced AI-driven techniques has breathed a new lease of life into this fundamental capability that forms the backbone of Retail. All retailers are trying to build strong demand forecasting capabilities to inform and optimize operations across the retail value chain in a manner that results in significant top-line and bottom-line impact.

Demand forecasting informs end-to-end retail functions like how to buy the most optimal amount so that there isn’t a whole lot of overstock but also not lost sales, how to allocate inventory across the supply network to best meet demands, how to allocate resources optimally for logistics and distribution given the anticipated volumes and how to curate the best promotions and discounts to meet desired business objectives. Due to such a broad-based use for demand forecasting, it is one of the top agenda items on every retailer’s list of initiatives as a capability that can and will underpin so many other advanced capabilities.​

Fractal has a robust suite of product and service-oriented offerings for enabling demand forecasting for clients to meet them where they are and scale from that point onwards. ​ Fractal’s proprietary product Asper.ai unlocks additional flexibility for businesses to avoid getting stuck in a linear AI maturity curve. With the full-scale implementation of Asper.ai, businesses can unlock AI for improved accuracy and continuous learning, a platform for speed and agility, and process transformation for improved value focus.​

Are you looking just for visibility across the Supply chain? Don’t settle just for a retrospective view of supply chain performance but forward-looking, predictive, and early warning alerts on the upcoming risks through the power of Analytics. Supply chains are increasingly facing volatilities and uncertainties and are looking towards alternatives to mitigate the risks.

Our Control towers framework drives agility and resilience across the supply chain, aiding Digital Enablement, Predictive & Prescriptive, Cognitive Automation, and Design for Adoption. We help retailers enable integrated and agile retail supply chains through digital control towers.

Some examples:
  • Strategic supply planning for agility improved service & growth
  • “Warehouse of the Future” for improved warehouse operations and a 30% reduction in Time to decisions
  • 25Mn$ reduction in Transportation and freight spending through driver analytics with end-to-end visibility

There are so many forces acting in Retail today, like consumers having a plethora of choices, consumers becoming increasingly savvy with online product and pricing comparisons that aggregators are driving in a big way, product designing and manufacturing companies going big on Direct-to-Consumer and it being increasingly difficult to create a differentiated offering for the customer in a world of burgeoning choices. ​​

In such an environment, promotions can be an effective way to drive customer loyalty. However, retail being a thin margin business, the value is really unlocked when promotions are optimally deployed to increase uptake but also have a cost-focus. This yield maximum ROI on the promotions investment dollars. And this can be enabled in a transformative way through the application of advanced analytics and AI. ​

Fractal has transformed the promotions management process for our clients by leveraging AI and advanced analytics to deploy advanced features related to pre and post-analysis of performance, planning and designing of high-performing promotions through AI-driven recommendations, enabling what-if simulation of multiple scenarios for the planners to take the right decision and integrated these insights with the operational systems for seamless execution and tracking.​

Sustainable businesses have reduced operational expenses and improved brand positioning to attract more customers, increase market share and profitability. But with so many initiatives and KPIs to monitor in the wide umbrella of ESG, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get insights​

Enabling Retailers to outperform on all dimensions across ESG​
  • Favored by Retail Consumers & Potential Investors – Retailers having ESG strategies aligned to their business goals are most likely favored by potential investors
  • Less Wasteful, cleaner, and more efficient while reducing energy consumption
  • Retailers focusing on sustainable practices can improve the efficiency of the e2e process within the retail supply chain ecosystem. Textile is the 4th highest pressure category for primary raw materials and 5th for GHG emissions.
  • Driving long-term brand loyalty while protecting the environment – Almost 32 percent of retail consumers are adopting a more sustainable lifestyle. Retailers need to address this growing mindset to stay relevant

We’ve enabled clients to unlock value by transforming ESG Data & analytics. Some examples:
  • Developed e2e ESG data platform for reporting and democratizing data
  • Sustainable sourcing decisions enabling compliance & fair sourcing policies
  • Identified opportunity areas to improve Green Manufacturing