A Torex Retail Solution | Lucas VM

About Torex Retail

Torex Retail North America 400 Scenic View Drive Cumberland RI 0286Y Tel: 401-658-3900 Fax: 401-658-5234 lucasplanning@rss.com www.torexretail.com

Torex Retail is a leading provider of software solutions to small, medium and large multiple retailers, petrol and convenience retailers, and the leisure and hospitality sectors. Torex Retail offers a comprehensive range of services covering consultancy through to installation, after-sales, helpdesk and maintenance.

The range of software solutions cover:

electronic point of sale including Java, loyalty systems and Chip & PIN mobile applications, including queue-busting, mobile EPoS, stock management, warehouse management and merchandising back office systems / head office systems performance management and customer counting systems visual, merchandise and assortment planning solutions supply chain management loss prevention tools

Passionate about retail

Visual Merchandising
Lucas VM bridges the gap between the art and science in retail merchandising. This innovative solution enables retailers to visualize the product assortments they are planning to send to stores and fine tune the product presentation, in order to maximize the effectiveness of the mix according to the available space within stores.

A Torex Retail Solution | Lucas VM

A Torex Retail Solution | Lucas VM

Consumers purchasing decisions are based largely on visual influences, and therefore getting the message right first time is absolutely essential. Lucas VM brings together the information from numerical and financial plans, and combines it with both the digital images of the selected products and digital representations of fixtures and floor layouts. The solution can be used for a variety of purposes:
Store 

Store Planning
Using physical store layout diagrams, often exported from a CAD solution, retailers can easily and simply plan the ideal configuration of departments across the store to ensure the most effective utilization of adjacencies and sales return. The layout diagrams then have merchandising zones overlaid to determine the actual footage/meterage to be allocated to each department. These zones can be tailored to represent existing store boundaries, or they can be used to simulate store refurbishment and extension programmes.

The solution supports the visual merchandising process by separating activities into 3 key stages:
 

Store Planning Visual Merchandising Reporting & Analysis

The benefits retailers can expect to see, through the use of Lucas VM in their everyday operations, are:
 Increased

communication guidelines can be produced so that each store can be informed how the range is ideally presented, including point of sale graphics. the assortment evaluation and selection process you can demonstrate how an assortment will look when it is finally presented to the customer. can evaluate a number of different layout options, and see the financial impact on the overall fixture or department performance. stores can be modelled electronically to identify the ideal layout configuration, as well as modelling how products should be merchandised on new fixtures.

sales by ensuring ranges are presented in their best possible position/ adjacencies.

 Reduction

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in average stock holding  Lucas VM can provide details on the display quantities required for each item, the business can smooth the inflow of goods while maintaining a credible presentation.

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Visual Merchandising
Within each merchandise zone, the planners can determine what type of fixtures should be used and how and where they should be laid out. They can select from a library of company specific fixtures, including wall bays, free standing racks, tables, etc. The fixtures are placed onto the floor plan to ensure there is smooth customer flow around the store, and that the square footage/ meterage is effectively converted to linear selling space. Each fixture can then be independently merchandised by re-orientating the view into an eye-level perspective. This allows the user to view the range presentation through the customers eyes and model the garments onto specific positions on the fixture. A user can utilize the library of hardware (pegs, racks, shelves, etc) and products in order to present the product assortment in a logical and eye-catching manner. One of the unique aspects of Lucas VM is the integration to the smartdecision database, which contains full details of the products eligible for this store and the associated financial information. This enables the users to reliably produce guidelines for stores, safe in the knowledge that the stores are likely to receive the ranges they are merchandising. The integration of the financial, numeric and image information enables the users to take informed decisions on visual aspects of the presentation.

 Better

communications the two-way nature of this solution means that not only can the corporate headquarters provide clear detailed instructions to stores, the stores themselves can feedback on-theground comments and advice. customer satisfaction customers are more likely to revisit stores where product is clearly merchandised and well stocked.

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 Increased

Lucas VM has a number of innovative features that will help retailers ensure they deliver the maximum return on their investment:
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Within the 3 Key Stages, other features of Lucas VM allow the retailer to report on:
Return 

automatic integration to the Lucas Planning suite enables the visual merchandisers to automatically utilize ranges, financial and numeric information that has already been captured in the assortment planning process. This eliminates the need for re-keying and avoids data duplication. ability to drill down through the overall store layout into each specific fixture allows retailers to plan at a level of detail that is appropriate for their business. zones can be created to identify the optimal utilization of floor space, and how this should be apportioned across departments. flexible reporting components of the solution make it quick and easy for the end user to create a wide variety of reports, for stores, corporate headquarters, or ad-hoc usage.

on square foot by department/sub department. fixture specific reports for visual guidelines to stores. to stock and sales data to determine display quantity and product flow. Grade specific reports. Determine linear conversions by store or grade.

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 Merchandising

Reporting & Analysis

As this information is often intended for a distributed audience, the presentation and reporting components are an essential part of the overall suite. Lucas VM offers a uniquely flexible reporting facility through the use of a desktop publishing style interface. The user can start with a blank canvas, upon which they can drop reporting objects to format and structure their report. The users can report on a wide variety of financial, graphic, visual and numeric data sources, which can all be combined on a single page in order to provide a consolidated view of the merchandising guidelines. Report pages can be previewed with live data, and then compiled into report decks, which can dramatically reduce the amount of effort needed to provide a standard report pack for reviews and store guidelines.

Lucas VM & the Tablet PC The visual, interactive nature of the Tablet PC is ideally suited to the creative approach of the visual merchandising community. Retailers can maximize the benefits of the mobility of the Tablet PC and Lucas VM by using the display guidelines directly on the shop floor. Notes, amendments and feedback can easily be provided by the store teams using the technology available on the Tablet PC.

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