Australian Liquor Marketers (ALM) has now completed the Phase Two roll out of the Complexica Decision Cloud Promotional Campaign Manager (PCM).
The artificial intelligence (AI) software from Complexica will provide the ALM group with greater capability to predict marketplace performance of promotional plans, as well as generating what-if scenarios that will optimise planning and consider a variety of constraints, business rules, and key objectives.
Simon Cleave, ALM’s National Retail Category Manager, said completing the Phase Two roll out will help support IBA banner group retailers navigate a changing market.
“Given the sheer complexity of our promotional planning workflow, we have always believed this area of our business is ideally suited for advanced Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technologies,” Cleave said.
“Phase 2 of Complexica’s Decision Cloud PCM has provided our team with world-class prediction and optimisation capabilities, allowing us to predict the future performance of promotional plans and optimise marketplace outcomes. We look forward to using the Artificial Intelligence functionality of Complexica’s software platform to build promotional programs that ensure the best possible outcomes for our retailers.”
The cloud-based PCM helps plan and analyse retail campaigns, while also predicting and optimising their effectiveness, using internal and external data and Complexica’s AI engine, Larry, the Digital Analyst.
Some of the features that ALM can utilise as part of the Phase Two rollout include multi-user access to centralised boards, plans and analytic dashboards, and the capability to forecast and measure the value of plans based on volume, revenue and margin predictions.
In addition, plans can be optimised based on different circumstances. One example noted by Complexica was that of maximising margin in one territory while not decreasing revenue in others. The technology also includes automated data loading, handling and manipulation.
Mike Costa, Director of Strategic Accounts and Customer Success at Complexica described how Phase Two will help ALM stores.
He said: “Complexica’s PCM is used by ALM to centralise and automate a wide variety of complex analytical tasks associated with the process of building effective promotional campaigns for thousands of retail stores. The PCM interfaces with ALM’s internal systems, so that staff can optimise promotional campaigns and pricing at a product, product group, and region level.”
“The deployment of phase 2 functionality has enabled ALM to create optimised plans and prioritise their promotional banner store activities.”
A focus on AI, smart data use and optimisation has been a focus for ALM in recent years, with Phase One of the Complexica partnership rolling out in 2019.