ShindigZ Inc. announced that they have selected IFSO – The inventory forecaster to replace their current inventory management solution.

“In December 2007, Escalate Retail announced that they were no longer supporting IFM the inventory forecasting solution provided by Ecometry.” Said Steve Vestal, Directory of Inventory Planning. “We selected IFSO from Forerunner Systems Inc. because of their great combination of functionality and value pricing.”

We are very excited to be working with Steve and the team at ShindigZ. We believe our service and features will continue to advance ShindigZ and help them improve their inventory management. Our Kit Module specifically will help track the inventory needs of items that are used in a variety of party packs.

Since 1926, ShindigZ has been America’s favorite for Prom and party supplies. From coast to coast, they’ve played a pivotal role in transforming millions of special events from ordinary to extraordinary. When they introduced the first “Memorie” book and the first decorations for Prom, who would have imagined what ShindigZ would ultimately become!

I think not…

That is not to say that one is better than the other, simply that they are different.

One of the most common questions we get is: How should I account for my web demand when forecasting a catalog?

Out best answer is actually to forecast the web demand separately from catalog and bring them together when developing a purchase strategy.

There are several reason why we believe that the web should be forecasted differently than a catalog.

Start and End Dates: All of the items in a catalog have a common start and end date. This gives a stable and reliable time frame to build a curve on. The web is very different. Items come and go at different times, they may drop off the web while they are out of stock (a topic for a different day) and external factors such as special events and affiliate programs may have a bigger impact than when an item is initially added to the assortment.

Assortment Mix: Within a catalog the entire assortment is fixed, that is, the items, their presentation and their pricing remain fixed within the confines of the catalog pages. The web is much more dynamic. As I mentioned above, items come and go, prices can be changed on the fly and even presentation can fluctuate over the course of a selling season. Probably the biggest difference between a catalog and a web assortment is size. Online assortments can grow to almost infinite size. This makes item level forecast management almost impossible.

E-mail Campaigns and other Marketing Events: While catalogers have always used additional marketing initiatives to support catalog sales, ecommerce has taken that approach to a whole new level. Again it is a question of volume. While in the past a cataloger may have had a seasonal postcard promotion, now every online retailer is sending out millions of e-mails every single day. Capturing and incorporating this activity into your forecasts is critical to ensuring a high level of accuracy and improving your purchasing strategy.

From the earliest days of the internet, we at FSI have believed that the internet is a unique channel and should be planned and managed that way. Our ecommerce module supports that very strategy. Forecast by Channel - Integrate the Buy Strategy for the very best results.

Today we had the first of our online training workshops.

Personally I had a great time. We had a wonderful turnout. 75% of our client companies attended and we maxed out our web conference attendance. (I may need to upgrade for the next one)

The goal was to provide a medium of education and discussion about IFSO functionality and improve the overall understanding of how IFSO works.

Mission Accomplished? Well I think so, but it will be up to our customers to tell us for sure.

If you attended the workshop please leave a comment. If you would like to know more, well again comments are welcome and if just want to know what the workshops are all about, well you got it… leave a comment!

I just got back from a roadtrip to Virginia to meet with F. Curtis Barry and Co. to show them IFSO 4.0 and discuss trends in the industry.

There are several parts of this visit and our discussions that stand out:

I continue to be impressed with the team at FCBCO and the thought leadership they bring to the industry. It is clear that they are wrestling with many of the same issues that have been driving strategic development at Forerunner.

How is e-commerce changing the traditional role of catalog as a merchandising and marketing vehicle.

What is the impact of consolidation in the industry.

How will the current economic conditions drive operations for Direct Marketers.

Clearly these issues are on the forefront of all of our minds, and Curt and his team are probably a little further along in developing some of the answers. I’d like to think that IFSO and our e-commerce solution are part of that equation.

Secondly, it was obvious that they are much more than just a group of consultants talking about what to do; they know how to take action. While I was there, they were dealing with some significant client emergencies due to the closing of BlueSky Brands / AB&C Group. The team at FCBCO was decisive, responsive and effective in dealing with the situation, extracting the product that was being stored at the AB&C facility before the doors closed. For more information on the closing of BlueSky Brands / AB&C Group check out Curt’s Blog. (http://www.fcbco-blog.com/)

And last but not least, was the fabulous hospitality that they showed me. The entire organization welcomed me warmly, paid rapt attention to my presentation, and provided some great food for thought for me as well.

All and all it was a fun and informative trip and I look forward to many more fascinating discussions with Curt and his team.

Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian Economist during the Renaissance who observed that 80% of the wealth at the time belonged to 20% of the people.  (something many of us probably stil observe today)

The Pareto Principle commonly called the 80/20 rule has become a common rule of thumb in business.

Well how does this apply to inventory forecasting?  By using the principles of the 80/20 rule, we can assume that 80% of our inventory problems are coming from only 20% of our skus.   So by quickly identifying and correcting that 20% we will fix the largest number of our inventory exceptions.

To accomplish this end IFSO provides several tools to help identify the items that need the most attention.  The primary mechanism for this are the Alert Reports.  The Alert Reports are broken into two categories:

Backorder: To find those items that are or will be on backorder within the forecast horizon

Overstock: To identify those items that will have too much inventory at a specific point in time

To find out more about our alert reports and how to use them to identify your biggest inventory risks and fix them, sign up for our free online seminar (current customers only)

Seminar Details:

Tuesday April 1, 2008

12:00 pst

RSVP to David@ForerunnerSystems.com to receive your secure log on information

One of the most common questions we get is what is Revelation Software and why did we develop our application with it?

Well the answer to the second question is easy. We chose OpenInsight from Revelation Software because it is Fast, Stable and Affordable to deploy. It offers our customers a scalable and manageable solution from small to very large. This backbone makes IFSO deployable on any Microsoft Windows or Linux environment.

To answer the second question, we have invited Revelation into the Partner Spotlight this month.

Revelation Software was founded in 1982 as a PC based development tool, since th en Revelation has evolved into a full service development environment which helps software companies design and deploy networked and internet based applications.

We used OpenInsight 8 to develop IFSO 4.0. OpenInsight 8 enabled a number of great new features including the Excel Export. With OI 8 Revelation Software brings many stages of enhancement together to create a rich development environment. With OI 8 IFSO becomes fully compatible in any environment with native access to Oracle, U2, SQL Server and makes it compliant with any Java Bean IDE programming solutions.

Revelation Software has over 2 million copies of its development and deployment solutions in production. It is used on every continent and in hundreds of countries world wide (including Antarctica).

Besides Forerunner Systems Inc., some of Revelation Software’s customers include:

20^th Century Fox

ADP

PG & E

National Weather Services

And my favorite Elvis Presley Enterprises

Amongst many, many more

At FSI we are very proud of our relationship with Revelation Software and we look forward to many more years of development and innovation with them.

For more information check out their website at www.revelation.com

Are Curves a Conundrum?

Are Projections Puzzling?

Do Exports Elude?

Well no more. At FSI we believe that knowledge is a journey and to help us along the path we will be launching a series of Free Online Workshops to cover a variety of topics that are of interest to you.

Each workshop will be approximately 1hr and will include live system interaction, presentation materials and supporting documentation. The First workshop is scheduled for April 1 at 12:00 pst. and we will cover the running and use of Alert Reports. RSVP is required! So be sure to sign up in advance.

To Sign up, send an e-mail to david@forerunnersystems.com and you will receive conference log in information.

Topic suggestions are always welcome, so feel free to leave comments suggesting new topics, feedback and criticism.

FSI is very excited to welcome our two newest associates to the IFSO family.

Amy Richmond: Amy is joining us as our office manager to help organize and streamline our operations. As our business grows and we expand into new products and services our administrative requirements have increased as well. Amy has spent many years as a teacher and administrator and will be helping us build our online training program. This experience is perfect for wrangling the chaos and whimsy that drives us at FSI.

Kristie Church: Kristie joins us as our Director of Business Development. Kristie is an experienced IFSO user honing her skills as an inventory control buyer for Pottery Barn Kids. Most recently she was the National Sales Manager for Wild Planet Toys, where she was responsible for the specialty retail segment and their online store. This combination of Inventory Management Experience and specialty retail sales will help us quickly expand and build our brand presence. Her first priority will be to manage the roll out of IFSO 4.0 with our existing customer, so expect to be meeting her in the near future.

I know it is getting a little late for the typical look back at last year (yes, it is practically February already, are you still writing 2007 on your checks?) but we had a great year and here are some of the stats.

By the Numbers:

400k - The amount invested in R & D in 2007
160% - Change in Revenue
1 Billion $ plus - the amount of inventory under management
4 - New Customers
2 - New Products: IFSO OnDemand, E-Commerce Module
4 - Modules for IFSO, Catalog, E-commerce, Kits, Assortment Planning
13 - Years in business and counting

Thanks to everybody who helped us have a great year and here is to a fabulous 2008.

Thompson Cigar has announced today that they will be implementing IFSO the Inventory Forecaster from Forerunner Systems to help them manage their inventory for improved customer service and profitability. “The IFSO Kit module really supports the complex nature of our cigar business” stated Doug Grant, VP of Inventory for Thompson and Company. “Our sampler business is critical to our success and IFSO will allow us to track the inventory of each individual cigar regardless of how many samplers it is sold in.”

IFSO the Inventory Forecaster provides an optimized purchase order recommendation by combining customer demand from each channel including catalog and web. IFSO is purpose built to support multi-channel retailers and is the only solution that uses unique forecasting approaches for each channel, while still providing a single optimized buy recommendation.