Aptos, a player in retail technology solutions, announced that The SM Store, the largest department store chain in the Philippines, will deploy Aptos Merchandise Financial Planning to optimize its omnichannel merchandising strategies. The solution will provide end-to-end support for the retailer’s merchandise planning activities across its bricks-and-mortar and online channels.
The SM Store, formerly known as SM Department Store, has over 60 stores located in key cities throughout the Philippines and carries a range of apparel, accessories, housewares, general merchandise and lifestyle products. The SM Store is part of SM Retail, Inc., a significant player in the retail industry in the Philippines.
SM Retail has come a long way since its founder, Henry Sy Sr., realized his dream to open a shoe store in Manila in 1958. Today, SM’s retail operations are the country’s largest and most diversified, with food, nonfood and specialty retail stores.
With the guiding principle of offering a one-stop shopping experience, The SM Store continues to enhance the way it engages with its loyal customers. This has included investments in its online shopping platform, ShopSM, allowing customers to shop anytime, anywhere.
As customers’ browsing and buying behaviors have expanded, so too has The SM Store’s complexity in planning merchandise across channels. In order to delight customers with the right merchandise while consistently meeting financial goals, the Aptos solution will provide end-to-end support for The SM Store’s merchandise financial planning activities. This includes strategic planning and budgeting, planning by attributes, buying and assortment strategy, in-season management, and more.
Once deployed, Aptos Merchandise Financial Planning will be utilized by over 120 merchandise planners within The SM Store business. The Aptos solution was selected over competitive offerings due to its ability to support The SM Store’s different shop formats and increasing number of channels, the ease of use and intuitiveness of the application, and the flexibility of the solution to evolve with The SM Store over time.
“SM’s tagline of ‘We’ve got it all for you’ emphasizes the importance this retailer places on its merchandising strategy, buying decisions and vast assortment,” said Noel Goggin, Aptos CEO and culture leader.
“Merchandise planning is the foundation of developing, buying and delivering the best assortments to customers while achieving margin and inventory investment targets. With Aptos Merchandise Financial Planning, The SM Store can optimize product distribution and stock levels across channels — a powerful differentiator as it advances its omnichannel vision. We are proud to work with this customer-centric and highly diversified retailer, a true leader in the dynamic and growing Philippine retail market.”
