Fashion retailer automates merchandising

Soft Surroundings is making moves to create more customer-centric assortments.



The St. Louis-Missouri-based fashion retailer’s goal is to help customers maintain their unique sense of style without sacrificing comfort. This was becoming a challenge through its spreadsheet-based planning processes. With an eye on driving more customer-centric assortments across its growing chain, the company knew it was time for a change.



“We have experienced significant growth in our stores, and were fast finding that our traditional spreadsheet-based approach did not give us the real-time view into store performance,” said Laura Barrett, senior VP of operations, Soft Surroundings. “We were operating more on gut feel, and needed much more visibility into how our customers shop and what they purchase.”



Ready to overhaul this manual processes, Soft Surroundings leveraged JDA Allocation, a solution that enables the company to custom-tailor its merchandise, all the way down to size, based on the way consumers shop its stores. The transition positions the chain to fuel growth and improve sales across all its channels — stores, catalog and e-commerce.



The platform also will ensure that the correct amount of merchandise is being distributed within the correct channel or location, leading to better inventory levels, reduced out-of-stocks, and improved customer satisfaction. Overall, JDA Enterprise Planning will help Soft Surroundings create sales and inventory goals that will help them boost sales, while minimizing financial risk across the channels in which they operate.



“We selected JDA Enterprise Planning and JDA Allocation to take us to the next level of omnichannel retail planning, giving us the ability to plan while optimizing inventory and maximizing profitability,” Barrett said.