Fashion Retailer Simons Leverages Retail AI to Lead the Way in the Digital Age

Photo: Simons

La Maison Simons, one of Canada’s oldest retailers, founded in 1840, adds retail AI to it’s arsenal, continuing to innovate and establish the company as a leader in the digital age.

The Canadian retail industry has been turbulent through several technological disruptions over the recent years. During the time that Zellers and Sears closed their doors, and Target failed to penetrate the Canadian market, Simons more than doubled their footprint. The retailer expanded its flagship locations across Canada in several provinces and broke into the US market through e-commerce.

For over 176 years simons served many generations consistently offering on-trend fashion merchandise. Today the company turns over 250,000 style/color combinations a year and offers a wide range of sizes. 

Simons needed a better way to forecast demand and manage inventory that could take the business into the digital age. The geographical expansion across 4500km (2800mi) of their flagship stores  also required an accurate, sustainable, and scalable approach. The retailer needed to optimize inventory and fulfillment with a minimal impact on cost, customer experience, and the environment.

The retailer turned to a Toronto-based retail AI and Predictive Analytics firm to accurately forecast demand, generate shipments, allocate products, optimize replenishment and promotions. 

Simons CEO, Peter Simons, is the 5th generation of the family to run the business founded in Quebec City in 1840. "Today, in the 21st century, we are moving to a much more granular approach to looking at data, and that's where Retalon comes in for me. In this era where the customers talk to you through that data, to be able to really hear not only when they're shouting things but also just whispering very quietly, Retalon helps us move through that data more gradually and make better decisions."

Recently there has been a lot of buzz-words floating around in reference to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics. There are many vendors claiming to have AI technology that will solve challenges retailers face, and yet there are few successful use cases available. 

One of the major reasons that rolling out AI technology in retail is that specialty businesses like Simons have a multitude of unique constraints, business rules, and complexity that isn’t accounted for in traditional analytics solutions. What Simons and Retalon have been able to demonstrate is that when business-specific retail AI technology is properly deployed, the payoff is certainly there.

Prior to working with  Retalon, the buyer at Simons spent a lot of time managing inventory, promotions, and store transfers. The new approach enabled them to automate and reduce time buyers spent on this process. They found that they can now rely on a highly accurate demand forecast that is very granular and offers improved visibility into distribution of sizes, colors, and styles of their merchandise.

"We were looking for a company that would not just give us a black box that we would get an answer out of and always question it," said Gary Craig, VP, Informational Technology at Simons, "What we found is that we're able to work directly with the Retalon team, we get right to point, and solve problems quickly."

West Edmonton Mall store. Photo: Simons/figure3

Retalon is working with major retailers across Canada, United States, UK and the Caribbean and has pioneered predictive analytics and AI technology since 2002. Retalon is the first retail AI platform to offer end-to-end solutions for forecasting, merchandise planning, inventory optimization, price management, promotions, and markdowns.

"Partnering with the Simons team goes far beyond collaboration between two organisations," said Retalon CEO, Mark Krupnik, "We are proud of the solution we have built for retailers, and it is an amazing feeling when you work with people who understand it, take full advantage of what our analytics can offer, and have vision for the next big thing retailers need, that helps us to align our development goals."

Simons stays on the competitive edge by offering unique shopping experiences in and out of their stores with efficient and sustainable fulfillment. In addition to retail AI the company maintains a strong customer loyalty program, and has introduced robotics and automation to their warehouse. 

Today, as retailers are faced with new challenges like the Coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdown, the digital transformation of retail will accelerate further widening the gap between tech-savvy retailers and others. Simons has positioned itself well for the years ahead and will benefit in the increased market share.