Planning and Allocation

Prior to joining our firm, our consultants played key roles in planning and allocation at major retailers. As Karabus consultants, they have worked extensively with more than 15 retailers in the past three years in the following areas:

• Planning and allocation functional assessments - maximizing the ROI from your existing efforts and investments in people, process, and systems.
• Selecting and optimizing leading planning and allocation systems - ensuring that properly designed processes and organization design precede technology implementation to maximize the returns on IT investments.
• Managing organizational change and providing coaching - creating the right organizational alignment, role design and capabilities, given that enhanced knowledge and behaviors are crucial for ensuring widespread adoption and mastery of new processes and information systems.

We have markedly improved planning and allocation at many retailers:

Click here to view our Planning & Allocation case studies

Karabus Management is your strategic partner to increase gross margins in planning and allocation for four reasons:

1. We possess leading approaches to improving planning and allocation
• We have led 15 major planning and allocation engagements in the past three years, from enhancing existing process and systems to implementing leading software applications.
• We have invested heavily in primary proprietary industry research to understand how leading retailers have improved planning and allocation.
• We continually improve our expertise through continuously developing our people and hiring the best and the brightest from retail.
2. We seek quick wins and focus on managing organizational change
• We are intensely focused on "paying the way" through near-term process and policy improvements.
• We focus on helping retailers define key roles in planning and allocation, and then coaching their people to master those roles. From benchmarking more than 20 planning and allocation organizations at leading retailers, we know how to build highly collaborative and effective planning and allocation functions.
3. We take practical and cost-effective approaches to managing systems implementations
• We won't recommend new technology for newness sake. We help clients get the most out of their existing investments before recommending new IT investments. Our clients do not want to be on the bleeding edge of technology. They want proven technology applied judiciously.
• Our consultants have implemented planning and allocation systems many times and have experience with all of the major software providers.
• We are "software independent" while still being intimately knowledgeable with the leading systems. We represent only the retailer's best interests in the important process of selecting and implementing software. This ensures that a retailer gets the best technology for its business.
4. We have deep experience in all the key fashion and seasonal retail sectors
• We have worked extensively with specialty apparel chains, big box and department store chains.