System and method for performing assortment definition

• US 20050197878A1
• Filed: 07/06/2004
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Fotteler, Christine, Busch, Hergen, Kopecz, Klaus
• Granted Patent: US 8,392,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration

Abstract

A system and method for performing assortment definition is provided. The method comprises inputting information regarding a plurality of stores into an assortment definition engine, and performing a matching process to identify at least one group of stores for assignment to the assortment. An automated system for defining an assortment and a program product for defining an assortment are also provided.

Claims

1. A method for defining an assortment using an automated process, comprising:

inputting information regarding a plurality of stores into an assortment definition engine; and

performing a matching process to identify at least one group of stores for assignment to the assortment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the matching process is based on identifying common characteristics of the stores.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the common characteristics are retail site characteristics.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the retail site characteristics include at least one of capacity, price level, fashion grade, sales, geographical region, climactic zone, demographics and retail concept.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the input information includes category information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the category information includes merchandise categories.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the category information corresponds to a level in an article hierarchy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the input information includes store location.

9. The method of claim 1, further including inputting sales information into the assortment definition engine.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sales information includes historical sales transactions.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the sales information includes forecasted sales transactions.

12. The method of claim 1, further including inputting dimension information into the assortment definition engine.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the dimension information is obtained using an automated classification engine.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the automated classification engine identifies the dimension information based on store master and sales ranking information.

15. An automated system for defining an assortment, the system comprising:

means for inputting information regarding a plurality of stores into an assortment definition engine; and

means for performing a matching process to identify at least one group of stores for assignment to the assortment.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the performing means performs the matching process by identifying common characteristics of the stores.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the common characteristics are retail site characteristics.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the retail site characteristics include at least one of capacity, price level, fashion grade, sales, geographical region, climactic zone, demographics and retail concept.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the input information includes category information.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the input information includes dimension information.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the dimension information includes a price level and a capacity level.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the dimension information is obtained using an automated classification engine.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein an automated classification engine identifies the dimension information based on store master and sales ranking information.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the input information includes store location.

25. An automated system for defining an assortment, comprising:

a classification engine configured for receiving input information regarding a plurality of stores and generating dimension information; and

an assortment definition engine configured for identifying at least one group of stores for assignment to the assortment based on the store information and the dimension information.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the dimension information includes retail site characteristics.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the retail site characteristics include at least one of capacity, price level, fashion grade, sales, geographical region, climactic zone, demographics and retail concept.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the category information includes a merchandise category.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the category information corresponds to a level in an article hierarchy.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the assortment definition engine is further configured for generating a store-assortment assignment, the system further including means for assigning a validity period to the store-assortment assignment.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein the classification engine is further configured for receiving category information that is used for identifying the dimension information.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the assortment definition engine is further configured for receiving the category information from the classification engine, the category information being utilized to generate the proposed assortment.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the classification engine is further configured for receiving sales data that is used for identifying the dimensions.

34. A program product for defining an assortment, the program product comprising machine-readable program code for causing, when executed, one or more machines to perform the following method steps:

receiving information regarding a plurality of stores; and

performing a matching process to identify at least one group of stores for assignment to the assortment.

35. The program product of claim 34, wherein the matching process is based on identifying common characteristics of the stores.

36. The program product of claim 34, wherein the common characteristics are retail site characteristics.

37. The program product of claim 36, wherein the retail site characteristics include at least one of capacity, price level, fashion grade, sales, geographical region, climactic zone, demographics and retail concept.

38. The program product of claim 34, wherein the received information includes category information.

39. The program product of claim 34, wherein the received information includes dimension information.

40. The program product of claim 39, wherein the dimension information includes a price level and a capacity level.

41. A program product for proposing an assortment, the program product comprising machine-readable program code for causing, when executed, one or more machines to perform the following method steps:

receiving input information regarding a plurality of stores;

grouping the stores according to dimension information; and

proposing at least one group of stores for assignment to the assortment.

42. The program product of claim 41, wherein the dimension information includes retail site characteristics.

43. The program product of claim 42, wherein the retail site characteristics include at least one of capacity, price level, fashion grade, sales, geographical region, climactic zone, demographics and retail concept.

44. The program product of claim 41, wherein the category information includes a merchandise category.

45. The program product of claim 41, wherein the category information corresponds to a level in an article hierarchy.

46. The program product of claim 41, further including identifying the dimension information using the store information and sales data.