Footgear taps Nextail smart retail merchandising platform in stores across South Africa

South African multi-brand footwear retailer, Footgear, has partnered with smart retail merchandising platform Nextail.

As a first step, Footgear will implement in-season solutions across its footprint of more than 200 stores nationwide.

Over its 22-year history, it has relied on spreadsheet-based tools for planning and forecasting in-season inventory management. However, with a growth strategy in place, these methods have proved challenging to scale.

Consequently, it recognised the importance of a centralised information source, better system integration, streamlined manual processes, and improved inventory visibility across its retail network.

Now, with in-season retail merchandising solutions in place, it says it will benefit from agility, speed and better anticipation of demand to maximise sell-through.

In turn, it will be able to make ongoing adjustments to product offerings at its many Points of Sale to meet customer demand, no matter how it has changed since pre-season planning or continues to evolve.

Footgear CEO Neil Stephens says: “We firmly believe that Nextail’s fashion first approach, automation and advanced forecasting capabilities will help us best deliver on our customer promise to offer the best shoe brands at affordable prices and an excellent in-store experience across South Africa.”

“By automating and optimising our core retail merchandising processes, we can continue satisfying customers while ensuring a similar cost-to-serve as we expand our presence nationwide.”

“We are delighted to be a part of Footgear’s transformation journey and assist them in harnessing the advantages of automated, data-driven decision-making within their core merchandising processes,” says Juan Avedillo, Co-CEO at Nextail.

“This partnership marks a significant milestone for Nextail in the African region, unlocking fresh avenues to broaden our market presence and explore new opportunities.”