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Retail Chain Manager (RCM)

Effective management of retail information

Solution summary

The Retail Chain Manager (RCM) allows retail chains to centrally manage their stores and store related information and information flows in Microsoft Dynamics AX, while still giving individual stores the freedom to manage their own pricing, campaigns, purchasing and sales. The degree of centralization can be suited to match each chain’s requirements.

Although it uses Microsoft Dynamics AX as the main ERP system, the RCM allows chains to use either the Microsoft Dynamics AX Point of Sale (POS) system or to choose any other external POS system that suits their needs. The RCM has a very flexible integration interface and can be used to integrate with any POS system, as long as the system is able to exchange information with other systems.

The RCM can be used to control campaigns all the way from conception to execution and evaluation. It is possible to build as many elements into campaigns as desired, including special discounts, pricing (purchasing and sales), advertising, label and poster printing, and more.

Together, Microsoft Dynamics AX and the RCM provide a single source of information entry for all the retail-related data to be used. Information about items, bar codes, discounts, customers, etc. need only be entered once, and the RCM takes care of the necessary distribution of data within Microsoft Dynamics AX or to external POS systems.

 

Industry and business challenges

The retail industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing industry, and is undergoing constant change. Local retailers are under pressure from global retailers, and success depends on the ability to constantly optimize business processes and reduce time to market.

The specialty retail industry comprises more than 21 million companies worldwide, divided into several sub-segments, each with its own unique processes.

Changing requirements

Many retailers invest in technology for a variety of reasons, but there are common trends across the industry, such as:  

Retailers are constantly seeking to enhance profits in a global market without decreasing their pricing, and they want technology that can assist them in reducing time to market optimizing inventory values across the entire chain.

Specialty retail

Special retail is a global but highly fragmented market when it comes to IT service vendors, and there are no worldwide leaders. Microsoft Dynamics AX and the RCM are among the only products capable of handling international installation on one core application.

 

Business challenges
The business challenges in the retail industry are as follows:

Improve profit margins

  • Compare corporate and store operations against critical revenue and profitability targets.
  • Deliver sales and item movement information to operations, marketing and merchandising.
  • Identify trends and monitor customers’ buying needs and behavior.
  • Increase profitability by planning and adjusting resources according to cycles (seasonal, calendar and fiscal). 

Increase store performance

  • Increase visibility and accountability for the top controllable costs, such as labor and cost of goods.
  • Spread sales and margin information across the chain with enterprise-wide reporting.
  • Quickly and easily pinpoint high or low performing divisions, stores, products and staff.
  • Optimize resources through headcount planning and workforce analytics.
  • Keep daily tabs on turnover, customer satisfaction, returns, sales trends and employee utilization through retail scorecards.

 Monitor inventory and operational costs

  • Identify cost savings by comparing and benchmarking product costs and orders across stores, regions and segments.
  • Improve merchandise levels, minimize out-of-stocks and manage inventory costs through item movement analysis.
  • Monitor key controllable expense areas across the chain: labor, inventory, cost of goods, supplies and transactions.
  • Evaluate supplier performance in terms of quality, delivery and price.

Get better return on investments in ERP and other enterprise software

  • Integrate ERP, merchandising, inventory, POS and legacy data for a single view of chain-wide performance.
  • Offer a self-service environment for stores, warehouses, suppliers and corporate business users that frees up IT resources and lowers Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).