German toy retailer predicts its way to success
By Retail Technology | Thursday May 9 2013
MyToys.de adopts predictive analytics and decision management software to manage warehouse operations and better compete by harnessing 'big data' capabilities
MyToys.de was recently revealed as a new retail adopter of the Xpress Optimisation Suite from specialist analytics provider Fico.
The toy retailer, which is part of Germany's OTTO group, has adopted the latest version of the Fico suite, which includes a new, Xpress-Insight component, designed to add rapid application deployment and support for cloud-based optimisation.
Scientific optimisation approach
Ralf Schmilewski, head of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems at myToys.de, explained that the software suite would help the company cope with its rapid expansion.
“Our business has grown so much that we need mathematical optimisation to manage our two massive warehouses,” said Schmilewski.
“Optimisation will give us greater efficiency in processes such as picking and packing orders. We chose the Fico Xpress Optimisation Suite because it gives us fast answers and the ability to quickly optimise additional business processes."
He also said that Fico "offered the most flexible licensing scheme".
Visual interface and collaboration
“FICO Xpress has always been a favourite for operations research professionals because of the solver speed and the Xpress-Mosel modelling tool, which provides a robust way of defining large-scale optimisation models,” said
Oliver Bastert, Fico product manager for optimisation tools, added that companies liked the software's highly visual user interface. "[It] lets them do data exploration, what-if analysis, reporting, scenario management, and custom visualisation," he said, while the latest version also includes new collaboration features to enable business teams to interact with the same model and share what-if scenarios to reach agreement on the best approach.
