Intelligent merchandise planning for Answear
Services
- Custom development
- End-to-end implementation of Oracle Retail MFP
- Training and full PM support
Technologies
- Oracle Retail Merchandise Financial Planning Cloud Service (MFP)
- Oracle Retail AI Foundation Cloud Service (AIF)
- Oracle APEX
Business challenges
As Answear expanded across 12 European markets and built a portfolio of over 700 brands, their planning process became increasingly complex. Each country came with its own customer preferences, seasonal trends, currencies, and competitive dynamics, making it more challenging to manage budgets and merchandise planning from a central hub in Kraków.
Relying on Excel spreadsheets for such a dynamic, multi-market operation was no longer sustainable. The manual process couldn’t keep pace with the scale and speed of the business. It created bottlenecks, left room for human error, and made it difficult for teams to get the insights they needed exactly when they needed them.
Answear’s Analytics and Planning Team needed a modern solution that could simplify complexity without compromising on depth. Their ideal platform had to:
- Provide fast and multi-dimensional analysis of historical data.
- Enable agile planning across categories, brands, and regions.
- Automate time-consuming tasks and reduce manual effort.
- Seamlessly integrate with the company’s existing Business Intelligence (BI) systems.
To meet these needs and build a planning process, Answear selected Oracle Retail Merchandise Financial Planning Cloud Service (MFP) and partnered with Spyrosoft to bring this vision to life.
Our role and approach
Oracle retail expertise
Spyrosoft assembled a dedicated team of Oracle Retail specialists with deep experience in complex, multi-country rollouts across the region. But this wasn’t just about technology.
Strategic partner and tech provider
Spyrosoft stepped in as both a technology partner and strategic advisor, helping design a new planning process that matched Answear’s growth ambitions while staying intuitive and easy to adopt. Together, we shaped a solution that brought clarity, flexibility, and intelligence to every level of the operation.
What we delivered:
- Full implementation of Oracle Retail MFP – from configuration and testing to go-live.
- A forecasting service through Oracle AIFCS, unlocking demand predictions.
- Custom Hierarchy Grouping module, developed in Oracle APEX, giving business users full control over product and brand groupings without needing IT support.
- Hands-on training and enablement for the planning team.
- End-to-end project delivery, with strong stakeholder engagement and change management throughout.
Results and benefits
With the new Oracle-powered planning platform in place, Answear’s Planning Team has shifted from manual spreadsheets to an intelligent, integrated ecosystem.
Here’s what’s changed:
- No more manual data handling – planners can now focus on high-value analysis instead of prepping spreadsheets.
- Multi-layered planning – from strategic financials to regional market needs and detailed product collection insights.
- Automation of repetitive tasks – improving speed and accuracy.
- Granular control over key KPIs – including Net Sales, Gross Margin, Sell-Through Rate, and Inventory Levels.
- Built-in versioning and approvals – creating a single source of truth across the business.
- Dynamic hierarchy management – planners can now restructure groupings on the fly, slashing complexity.
All of this creates a more agile, data-driven approach, allowing Answear to respond faster to changing market trends, improve financial focus, and make smarter, margin-driven decisions across its vast brand portfolio.
Measurable success
- 100% of Answear’s revenue planned using the new platform, supporting operations across 12 European markets (majority of sales generated outside its home market in Poland).
- 700+ brands efficiently grouped and planned with Spyrosoft’s custom Hierarchy Grouping module.
- Reduction in manual tasks, thanks to automation.
- Enhanced KPI management – detailed tracking of Net Sales, Gross Margin, Sell-Through Rate, and Inventory Levels at multiple hierarchy levels.
- Faster decision-making through streamlined workflows.
- Reduced overstocking and inventory aging, freeing up working capital and improving margins.
Discover how Spyrosoft can help your business make smarter data-driven decisions with our Business Intelligence services.
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