INTERNATIONAL. WHSmith Travel will go live with a new forecasting and stock replenishment tool this spring as part of the retailer’s plan to tighten up its supply chain management processes.
The new technology investment has been made to help the company reduce and better manage waste, as well as improve stock availability. In addition to books and stationery, the retailer sells various short-shelf-life products, including sandwiches, salads and chilled food-to-go.
Travel is WHSmith Group’s fastest growing business area and now comprises around 750 stores predominantly at UK airports and railway stations, but increasingly in international destinations such as Copenhagen, Delhi and Sydney airports.
WHSmith Chief Information Officer Ian Windsor said one of the company’s main objectives was to “get the right products available at the right time, in the right quantity”.
“Our travel arm is the most rapidly expanding part of our business,” he explained.
“We want our customers to be able to select the products they want and we need to make sure our food cabinets have optimised stock levels, so we do not lose out on sales.”
“As such there is a great need for us to enhance our decision making around forecasting and replenishment, in order to make our supply chain operate as optimally as possible.”
Windsor added: “We want our customers to be able to select the products they want and we need to make sure our food cabinets have optimised stock levels, so we do not lose out on sales.”
WHSmith Travel has chosen Finnish software firm Relex Solutions to implement its new systems. Relex already works with a range of international retail businesses including UK-based Booths Supermarkets, AO.com and Wyevale Garden Centres.
The Relex technology is expected to improve WHSmith Travel’s decision-making around forecasting and automated replenishment, as well as allow the business to analyse historical passenger numbers and footfall.
The partnership will also grant WHSmith access to machine learning, allowing the retailer to conduct a ‘regression analysis’ to predict future customer visits.
*In the below video, some of Relex’s retail customers share their views on how supply chain management will evolve over the next few years.