Product Overview of Nextail
Nextail is an innovative, AI-driven merchandise planning and execution platform designed to revolutionize inventory management and store operations for fashion and cosmetics retailers. Here’s a detailed look at what the product does and its key features.
What Nextail Does
Nextail aims to address the complex challenges in retail inventory management by leveraging artificial intelligence, prescriptive analytics, and machine learning. The platform helps retailers predict demand accurately, optimize inventory levels, and streamline distribution processes. This approach enables retailers to sell more with less stock, reducing markdowns, unsold products, and stockouts, while improving overall sales and customer satisfaction.
Key Features and Functionality
Demand Forecasting
Nextail employs advanced, fashion-specific forecasting algorithms that are explainable, actionable, and robust. These algorithms automate the calculation of billions of data points to provide accurate forecasts for each SKU at every point of sale, even for new or sporadically selling items. The system can detect product-level seasonality, elasticity, and lifecycle patterns, ensuring forecasts are continually aligned with demand.
Automated Replenishment
The platform features an automated replenishment system that optimizes daily replenishment to stores, maximizing sales probability across the network. This ensures high product availability and full-price sell-through, reducing the need for markdowns.
Inventory Optimization
Nextail offers comprehensive inventory optimization, including dynamic replenishment, stock redistribution, and inventory alerts. These features help in maintaining optimal stock levels, reducing overstocking and understocking, and improving overall inventory efficiency.
Allocation and Store Transfer
The platform optimizes the initial allocation of products to stores using computer vision techniques to identify demand patterns on similar products. Additionally, it predicts non-replenishable out-of-stocks and rebalances stock among stores to boost sales at the end of a product’s life cycle.
Omnichannel Integration and Real-Time Analytics
Nextail integrates seamlessly across all retail channels, providing real-time analytics and visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs) such as lost sales, product coverage, and stockout levels. This real-time data enables retailers to make informed decisions quickly.
AI-Driven Insights and Decision Automation
The platform uses AI and machine learning to automate core retail operational processes, including buying, allocation, and replenishment. It combines the science of forecasting with the art of buyer input to capture new trends and optimize inventory decisions based on unique business criteria.
Business Intelligence and Reporting
Nextail provides a retail-specific Business Intelligence module that offers automatic overnight calculations of KPIs and reports. This intuitive interface, designed like a consumer app, adds layers of intelligence and usability on top of existing ERP systems, making it easy for users to visualize and act on data insights.
Scalability and Technical Specifications
Powered by the Snowflake data-cloud, Nextail ensures high processing power and storage capabilities, allowing for the ingestion and processing of millions of products with countless variables in minutes. The platform is scalable and compatible with various operating systems and software, making it adaptable to growing business needs.
Benefits and Impact
Retailers using Nextail typically see significant improvements, including:
- Sales increases of 3-10%
- Reduction in in-store stock coverage by 30%
- Reduction in stockouts by 60%
- Lower markdowns and leftovers
- Improved sell-through rates and overall inventory efficiency.
Overall, Nextail is a powerful tool for fashion and cosmetics retailers, offering a comprehensive suite of features that enhance inventory management, demand forecasting, and operational efficiency, ultimately leading to better customer experiences and increased profitability.