GUI Option Planning for Retail Assortment

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Solution Overview

Problem

Retailers face challenges in determining optimal product assortment plans due to manual processes that lack efficiency and effectiveness in analyzing historical data and projecting sales, especially in industries with rapidly changing products, leading to suboptimal decision-making.

Innovation Solution

A graphical user interface-based option planning method that automatically calculates proposed option counts for product segments by considering historical performance and change thresholds, optimizing performance indicators while adhering to constraints, thereby streamlining the decision-making process and reducing manual work.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If manual processes are used to review product categories and determine product choices, then retailers can make decisions about product assortment, but the process is inefficient and leads to suboptimal decisions not based on historical data

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveefficiency of product assortment planningVSAvoidaccuracy of sales projections and historical analysis

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces manual mechanical review processes with an automated computer-based system that performs historical data analysis, sales projections, and option count calculations. The system automatically retrieves historical sales data, applies analytical models, and generates recommended option counts for each product segment, eliminating the inefficiency of manual processes while improving decision accuracy through data-driven insights

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The system enables self-service automated analysis where the computer automatically performs historical performance review, calculates optimal option counts, and generates planning recommendations without requiring manual intervention for each analysis step. The automated system serves itself by retrieving data, performing calculations, and generating outputs independently

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Ease of operation

If simple rules of brand, style, or color are used to determine product choices, then the decision-making process is simplified, but the decisions are not optimal or based on historical data

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesimplicity of decision-making processVSAvoidoptimality of product assortment decisions

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces simple heuristic rules with an automated computer-based analytical system that processes historical sales data and applies sophisticated models to determine optimal option counts. The system automatically analyzes historical performance, calculates statistical relationships, and generates data-driven recommendations that are both simple to obtain and highly reliable, eliminating the need to choose between simplicity and optimality

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Loss of information

If retailers organize sales data manually to gain insights and run projections, then they can analyze product performance, but the process is difficult and time-consuming

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompleteness of historical data analysisVSAvoidtime required for data organization and analysis

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces manual data organization and analysis with an automated computer-based system that efficiently retrieves, organizes, and analyzes historical sales data. The system automatically performs data processing, runs sales projections, and generates analytical insights without manual intervention, dramatically reducing the time required while maintaining complete and accurate historical data analysis

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs self-service automated data analysis by automatically retrieving historical sales data, organizing it according to product segments, performing statistical analyses, and generating projections without requiring manual data organization. This self-organizing capability eliminates time-consuming manual processes while preserving complete historical information

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS11232492B2Computer graphical user interface for option planning

Publication Date: 2022.01.25 SAP SE

AI summary

Technologies are described for performing automated option planning. For example, option planning can comprise displaying a plurality of product segments, displaying historical performance for the plurality of product segments (e.g., indicating how many options were offered previously), receiving a change threshold value, automatically calculating an option count range for each product segment based at least in part on the change threshold value and the historical performance, automatically determining a proposed option count for each product segment (e.g., limited to its corresponding option count range), and displaying the proposed option count for each of the plurality of product segments. Sales targets can also be calculated and displayed based on the proposed option counts. Option planning can be performed within a graphical user interface.