From the President: What Happens In Vegas Doesn’t Necessarily Stay in Vegas

– Don Capman

Last month John Deery and I made our annual pilgrimage to “sin city” for the purpose of attending the Island Pacific Business Partner and User Conference. The event lasted for five days, and for someone who doesn’t enjoy gambling, five days could have been a very long time. Much to our delight, the agenda was packed with exciting and interesting news and events.

For those of you who don’t know us personally, John and I are both joggers (yes, even in the coldest of New England winters—brrrr). So our days in Vegas began at around 6:00AM every day with a 5-to-7-mile run. A jog in Vegas at 6:00AM is like nowhere else. First you condition your lungs by walking through a still-active, smoke-filled casino where the cocktail of the hour is a Bloody Mary (an excuse for breakfast). After leaving the casino, you start the jog up the Strip, often being pursued by inebriated casino patrons or dodging “working girls” who are still on the streets. This is what should stay in Vegas.

What shouldn’t stay in Vegas is the excitement that was generated at the Island Pacific Conference. We first heard from Barry Schecter, the new CEO of Island Pacific. For those of you who aren’t aware, Barry Schecter is one of the original founders of the Island Pacific Company, and he recently decided to return to the company as CEO. Since then, Island Pacific/Retail Pro has undergone a very significant and positive reorganization. Barry presented the Business Partners with the current financial state of Island Pacific and illustrated how his reorganization has brought the company back to profitability with no need for further outside funding. His take on the future of the company was extremely positive with product development on—and in some cases—well ahead of schedule. There were many other speakers, including the publisher of Chain Store Magazine who spoke about the current state and future of specialty retailing. He emphasized that only the most informed retailers with the best analytic tools will prosper in a retail world where the major big-box stores are consolidating.

Now to the meat and potatoes! You’ve heard me talk about retail analytics and KPI’s (key performance indicators). When Island Pacific purchased Retail Technologies, the intent was to take the best-of-breed retail point of sale/inventory control solution (Retail Pro) and “marry” it to the best-of-breed retail analytics solution (Island Pacific Management System). This marriage was intended to produce an affordable solution for the smaller to mid-tier retailer similar to the outrageously expensive solutions that the “big guys” use. The idea was fantastic, but it was like trying to breed a lion with a tiger. Both solutions are recognized as top leaders in retail technology but they operate on different platforms with different databases. The technological changes that needed to take place to guarantee bullet-proof integration could take years. Well, little did we know that Barry Schecter, Island Pacific CEO, had been negotiating with a partner company who had a proven planning and forecasting solution that would integrate with Retail Pro NOW!

The new product is called Retail Pro Planning and has been thoroughly Beta-tested. Retail Pro Planning is an interactive solution with an unlimited number of measurements and KPI’s that can be viewed in multiple dimensions. Without going into too much detail, the next illustration will give you a simplified view of the many dimensions you can use to chart your performance and develop a plan.

After you decide which dimensions you want to look at in Retail Pro, you can then formulate a strategic plan which flows into a merchandise plan and ultimately an assortment plan. BI (Business Intelligence) has arrived for the Retail Pro user.

Because I risk putting you to sleep, I will not go into any further details at this point, but will assure you that we are planning in-depth webinars on this new and exciting solution. You will be notified as to the dates and times.

Incidentally, we had a recent webinar on a similar solution called ProMax and will continue to have them. The webinars last anywhere from a half-hour to an hour and are FREE. Advance registration is required. If nothing else, you owe yourself an hour to see if any of these solutions will work for your business.

In Vegas, “the house” almost always wins. Don’t roll the dice with your business. You can’t afford to lose in this increasingly competitive retail world.

If you would like a more in-depth explanation of the Planning Solution prior to a webinar, feel free to email me at donc@jdapos.com.