Efficient price calculation with CMplus

At Wincor World 2004, Wincor Nixdorf will present its Web-based CMplus category management solution with expanded functions. The current version incorporates day-to-day and best practice models established by ECR Europe, draws conclusions from sales and market research data and generates analysis reports for category managers. "Retailers and suppliers receive quick decision support for selecting products and establishing prices through this collaborative platform, which links all available data," said Christoph Schein, senior consultant at Wincor Nixdorf Retail Consulting GmbH.

In its latest version, CMplus offers interfaces for importing retail panel data and consumer panel data (GfK and others) and for connecting to popular shelf-management systems. Moveover, CMplus offers decision-support functions in the area of category evaluation by generating strategic recommendations from the automatic characteristic KPI analysis (Key Performance Indicator) in the CM-Scorecard applications. Additional functions include scorecard histories, scorecard analyses on a quarterly basis and fair-share analyses within the scorecard. 

The latest version of CMplus also features a new pricing module, which recommends a price for every article to the category manager, taking the prices of competitors into consideration.

The new module is seamlessly integrated into the other modules, taking all strategic positions of retailers and suppliers into account. Like the other modules, the price calculation module mirrors ECR processes. In addition to the automatic control cycles for price-sensitive articles, the module shows the category manager ad hoc which prices should be raised and which should be lowered.

The analyses, which are calculated from comprehensive data, require several regression analysis procedures. These are coupled with additional algorithms, which support the category manager with qualified results. In this way, when viewing the individual product, the category manager is ensured a complete overview of the category.