Smart Merchandise Management: For more growth in wholesale

With the intelligent merchandise management solution Chainbalance Smart Supply®, TIMEZONE GmbH, with 1,800 points of sale (POS) and over a thousand products, can efficiently meet the dynamic needs of its customers. Just by connecting 300 POS, the fashion brand was able to reduce its manual workload by 60% and increase turnover by 6% in the first three months.

TIMEZONE challenges

• Manual performance analysis of the inventory for all products
• Complex data streams
• Support for retailers with in-season management

Smart Supply solution

• Intelligent automated merchandise management
• Error-free transmission of data and analysis
• Optimized replenishment

TIMEZONE results

• Growth with customers
• Data transparency
• Save staff and time 
• Maintain cost levels
• Reduce errors
• Avoid overstock
• Reduce out-of-stock

Bye, bye manual performance analysis: Hello fully automated merchandise management

Growth through additional partnerships was nearly impossible for TIMEZONE due to the high manual effort of the previous manual performance analysis with the existing personnel structure. The analysis furthermore requires correct data and full transparency.

Reduce data complexity and create transparency

Wholesale faces a challenging data situation because sales and inventory data are not available consistently and daily. In the fashion industry, varying business processes often lead to incorrect data, and the multitude of data streams complicates merchandise management at TIMEZONE.

Growing alongside current and new business partners

In addition to the high cost of manual performance analysis, TIMEZONE also faces new challenges due to the demand from many retailers for intensive daily support in in-season management.

Re-order is the new pre-order. Our retailers now prefer lower pre-orders and require more support during the season. Previously, we used a time-consuming, semi-manual process to support our customers'. That's why we sought a solution to automate these processes and ultimately decided for a pilot project with Chainbalance.

TIMEZONE GmbH

• German denim label based in Raubling
• 50 employees and 1,800 POS
• Countries: Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Netherlands

Smart Merchandise Management solution Smart Supply

Chainbalance Smart Supply® determines the highest sales potential for each SKU in every store. The order quantities are based on the buying behavior of customers. The stock target is determined based on data and the latest technologies such as Evolutionary Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence like Machine Learning, Cloud Computing and Big Data. Based on the dynamic target adjustment, the corresponding orders are processed, and each store is supplied with the optimal replenishment.

Get started quickly and achieve success gradually with Software-as-a-Service

The first TIMEZONE retailers were connected in just 8 weeks due to a quick roll-out with SaaS. The only requirement is that the retailers must be able to send data regularly via EDI. The TIMEZONE team was trained in parallel to the three-month pilot phase. As a result, more than 300 POS have already been connected since April 2023.

Automatic merchandise management and consistent data flow at TIMEZON

60 % less work - Thanks to Smart Supply and the automatic calculation of the optimal stock level at the POS, the time required for replenishment has been reduced to one day. Previously, a manual performance analysis was required at least three times a week.

6% More turnover - The TIMEZONE merchandising and sales team now have a clear control option, can access important KPIs with just a few clicks, collaborate more effectively and make strategically important decisions quickly.

100 % data control - Through integrated EDI reporting, Smart Supply further offers the option of monitoring the flow of data between the retailer and TIMEZONE, detecting errors at an early stage and thus correcting them on time.

Thanks to Smart Supply, we can now grow with the wholesale. We are looking forward to the next steps.

Gradually, more retailers are now being connected, and data transmission is being optimized. Additionally, the use of the Smart Order Proposal feature, with automatic order suggestions for full replenishment control in wholesale, is planned. Another focus will be on Smart Demand Forecast, an AI-based production forecast for upcoming seasons with improved quantity forecasts and more profitable planning.

Do you want to optimize your daily merchandise management processes? Contact us via info@chainbalance.com