Deeper Dive: Forever 21 and Oracle
Forever 21 is planning to open 600 new stores in the next three years, and is helping to ensure those stores attract shoppers with Oracle Retail merchandising and assortment planning technology. By more accurately and efficiently predicting what precise individual items (including SKU-level variations) will be in demand in specific locations at specific times, Forever 21 is making stores as customer-centric as possible.\
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Arranging store assortments around targeted customer interests, updated on a weekly basis, helps make Forever 21 stores offer merchandising a little closer to the type of merchandising available on an e-commerce website. It also shows the retailer is aware that stores still represent the bulk of omnichannel profitability, and any technology that can make the store a more personalized experience and drive traffic is a positive investment.