Methods and Systems for Collaborative Demand Planning and Replenishment

• US 20070260524A1
• Filed: 07/27/2007
• Published: 11/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jean Young, Richard Young
• Original Assignee: Webconcepts, Inc.
• Inventors: Young, Raymond
• Granted Patent: US 7,848,967 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for generating replenishment orders for products sold to a multi-store retailer. Store trait data is mapped with planogram information and the mapped data is used to generate a fixture level safety stock for a particular product in a particular store. The fixture level safety stock triggers fixture level replenishment orders.

Claims

1. A method for generating replenishment orders for first and second products at a retail store, comprising:

a vendor managed inventory system receiving capacity information at a fixture level regarding first and second fixtures;

the vendor managed inventory system electronically receiving sales performance information regarding sales of the first and second products from the first fixture;

the vendor managed inventory system determining relative replenishment levels for the first and second products as a function of the capacity information and sales performance information; and

a vendor providing the replenishment levels of the first and second products to the store.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising vendor managed inventory system determining safety stocks for the first and second products with respect to the fixture level.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the vendor managed inventory system receiving additional sales performance information regarding sales of the first product from the second fixture, and using the vendor managed inventory system to determine relative replenishment levels for the first product with respect to the first and second fixtures.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the vendor managed inventory system additionally determines the relative replenishment levels at least in part using demographic data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the vendor managed inventory system additionally determines the relative replenishment levels with respect to a week at least in part as a function of a day of the week.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the vendor managed inventory system additionally determines the relative replenishment levels at least in part as a function of a specific future date.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the vendor managed inventory system additionally determines the relative replenishment levels at least in part as a function of an historic trend in product demand.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the vendor managed inventory system additionally determines the relative replenishment levels at least in part as a function of an expected trend in product demand.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of the vendor managed inventory system determining relative replenishment levels comprises analyzing fixture level point of sale data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of electronically receiving comprises receiving the sales performance information via a public packet switched network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the vendor managed inventory system receiving at least one of store trait data and planogram information.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the vendor managed inventory system receiving the capacity information with respect to a planogram.

10. A vendor managed inventory system, comprising:

a remote server in communication over a public packet switched network with a local retailer system storing planogram information and store trait data wherein the remote server is programmed to;

receive store trait data and planogram information via the public packet switched network;

map store trait data associated with a store with planogram information to derive a safety stock for a product for a fixture in the store; and

use the safety stock to trigger replenishment orders.

14. A method to manage an inventory by a provider comprising:

an inventory managing system receiving a planogram information from a store;

the inventory managing system receiving a store trait data from the store;

the inventory managing system correlating the planogram information and the store trait data to determine a safety stock level for a product; and

the inventory managing system generating a replenishment order when the product falls below the safety stock level.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising a provider providing the replenishment order to the store.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the planogram information comprises a fixture level information.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the planogram information comprises a product code information.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the planogram information comprises a product vendor information.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the planogram information comprises a sales data.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the sales data comprises a historic sales data and a forecast sales data.