Retail technology innovation of the week: Metro Brands taps Nextail platform for hyper-local forecasting
Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a new series brought to you by RTIH and sponsored by 3D Cloud by Marxent, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers.
Every week, we will showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, in the run up to the publication of the 2024 report in March.
So far, we’ve showcased work being done by Ocado Retail, Decathlon, Lacoste, Downtown Spirits, TalkShopLive, Huck’s, Rovertown, Wing, McDonald’s, Google Cloud. Nobody’s Child, IKI, Pixevia, Walmart, A.L.C., Archive, Therabody, Outform, Kingfisher, PMC, Żabka Polska, Boots UK, Ocula Technologies, Grace O'Malley Irish Whiskey, Metacask, Carrefour Belgium, HMV, Worldpay from FIS, and FreedomPay.
And this week we’re focusing on Metro Brands, an Indian footwear and accessory specialty retailer, which has entered into a strategic partnership with Nextail, a merchandise planning platform.
The long-term agreement encompasses a number of AI driven solutions across buying and merchandising.
Metro Brands operates more than 800 stores across over 180 Indian cities, with plans to open approximately 200 by FY 2025.
It says that, through accurate demand forecasting and decision automation, the Nextail platform will ensure product availability across its rapidly expanding store footprint.
With hyper-local forecasting, every store will have the individual focus that is usually only possible in the earliest stages of a brand’s journey. Metro Brands lays claim to being one of the only retailers in India with this capability at scale.
Nissan Joseph, CEO at Metro Brands, says: “Since opening our first store in 1955, Metro Brands has been fully dedicated to providing unparalleled service to customers by way of fashionable and region specific footwear.”
“Our decision to partner with Nextail is based on their strong product vision and retail knowledge, but more importantly because of our shared ethos for leveraging cutting-edge solutions in favour of enhancing the customer experience.”
Juan G. Avedillo, Co-CEO at Nextail comments: “We are so proud to embark on this journey with Metro Brands, an iconic and respected name in the Indian retail landscape. Together, we aim to empower them to stay at the forefront of retail innovation in India and worldwide.”
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