Staying ahead of the competition requires a robust and adaptive approach to core merchandising activities in the dynamic landscape of retail, merchandising, and vendor management. Oracle Retail Merchandising System (ORMS) stands as a technological cornerstone, offering a comprehensive solution designed to elevate the retail merchandising experience and ensure retailers can meet evolving demand needs.
From efficient inventory replenishment and management to dynamic financial tracking and pricing strategies, streamlined order fulfillment, and enhanced product management, Oracle RMS catalyzes operational excellence and enhanced customer satisfaction.
This article discusses the intricate features and transformative capabilities of the Oracle Retail Merchandising System, exploring how it revolutionizes the way retailers manage their merchandise and respond to market trends and where our team of Oracle consultants can come in to help.
What is Oracle Retail Merchandising System?
The Oracle Retail Merchandising Cloud offers a comprehensive suite of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications designed to help retailers manage critical inventory, pricing, purchasing, and product information, accelerate decision-making, and improve satisfaction across the entire supply chain.
Oracle leverages a modern, exception-based retail methodology to identify critical areas of improvement and reduce the amount of time spent on nonproductive tasks, further improving inventory management efficiency and freeing up employees to spend more time on strategic, value-driven tasks.
With Oracle’s intelligent RMS capabilities, users can access the following features:
- Multi-channel, multi-brand, and multi-country retailing support
- Role-based dashboards, flex fields, notifications, and contextual BI tools
- Robust cost, deal, and purchase order management functionality
- Comprehensive retail stock ledger with cost or retail accounting methods
- Multi-currency and multi-language capabilities and support for multiple sets of books
- Centralized inventory management and replenishment through simple stock levels and forecasts
- Foundation data management for location, supplier, and hierarchical information
- Support for integrations between Oracle and other external workforce management systems
Key Features of Oracle Retail Merchandising Cloud Services
The complete Oracle Retail Merchandising Cloud suite includes five core applications designed to improve inventory and vendor management, facilitate better invoice matching, enhance pricing and purchasing accuracy, and drive better business outcomes.
Here’s a look at the main features of each application included in the cloud service suite:
Oracle Retail Merchandising Foundation Cloud
The Oracle Retail Merchandising Foundation Cloud Service offers end-to-end merchandising activities that build the foundation for critical retail operations and combine import management, merchandising, and sales auditing solutions into a single cloud service.
The key capabilities of this Oracle RMS component include:
- Foundation data (i.e., locations, suppliers, items, HTS, etc.)
- Cost and deals management
- Inventory replenishment for transfers, receipts, stock counts, and adjustments
- Domestic and foreign purchase orders
- Sales auditing and stock ledger capabilities
Oracle Retail Pricing Cloud Service
The Oracle Retail Pricing Cloud Service provides pre-built integrations with Oracle Retail Xstore Point-of-Service, offering a single solution for all regular, clearance, and promotional pricing strategies and enabling users to make more informed decisions using key item and inventory data.
Oracle Retail Invoice Matching Cloud
By seamlessly integrating with the Oracle Foundation Cloud Service, the Retail Invoice Matching Cloud Service provides a configurable way for users to meet unique invoicing requirements for each retailer. Users can leverage this service to manage the matching, reconciliation, and payment of supplier invoices for all customer purchases and post invoices with corresponding financial documents.
Oracle Retail Integration Cloud
The Oracle Retail Integration Cloud Service provides the critical integration tools and infrastructure to facilitate better connections between systems, including the Oracle Retail Integration Bus, Oracle Retail Bulk Data Integration, Oracle Retail Service Backbone, and other third-party retail systems.
Oracle Retail Allocation Cloud Service
With critical integrations to the Oracle Retail Merchandising Foundation Cloud Service, retailers can effectively allocate products to stores throughout the product lifecycle, manage purchase orders, and ensure accurate inventory figures.
Understanding the Benefits of Effective Merchandising Activities
Now that you have a better understanding of what Oracle RMS entails, let’s take a look at the main advantages of an effective retail management strategy for business users.
Efficient Inventory Management
Oracle RMS optimizes inventory control by providing real-time visibility into stock levels, order status, and product movements. This makes it easier for users to minimize overstock, reduce stockouts, and ensure responsive inventory, contributing to increased sales and better customer satisfaction.
Dynamic Pricing
The Oracle Retail Merchandising System empowers retailers to implement dynamic pricing strategies based on real-time market data, demand fluctuations, and competitive pricing metrics. This flexibility allows for intelligent pricing adjustments, promotions, and discounts, enabling users to maximize revenue while maintaining a competitive advantage in an ever-changing market.
Streamlined Order Fulfillment
By providing a centralized platform for managing, analyzing, and processing orders, Oracle RMS enhances critical order fulfillment functionality. This streamlined approach accelerates order processing, reduces errors, and ensures accurate and timely deliveries, fostering a positive and streamlined customer experience.
Comprehensive Reporting and Analytics
Robust reporting and analytics features offer retailers valuable insights into sales performance, inventory turnover, and customer behaviors. With Oracle RMS, data-driven decision-making becomes more accessible, enabling retailers to adapt quickly to market trends, optimize merchandising strategies, and make informed business decisions.
Enhanced Customer Experience
The Oracle Retail Merchandising System contributes to an improved overall customer experience by ensuring product availability, accurate pricing, and efficient order fulfillment. By meeting customer expectations consistently, Oracle RMS helps build brand loyalty, encouraging repeat business and positive recommendations from existing customers.
Navigating Oracle Retail Implementation Processes
When it comes to navigating implementation processes and ensuring your Oracle Retail Merchandising System is configured to meet your unique business needs, there are a few things project teams should consider to ensure a successful deployment.
Here’s a closer look at key challenges, best practices, and considerations for deployment:
Critical Implementation Challenges
Data Migration: Migrating data from existing systems into the Oracle Retail Merchandising System (ORMS) can be complex. To ensure a successful system implementation, project teams must maintain and assess data accuracy and consistency throughout each step of the migration process.
Change Management: Resistance to change in team composition, core merchandising activities, and overall workforce operations is a common challenge. Training programs and effective change management strategies are essential to ensure smooth adoption and minimize disruptions to existing solutions and processes.
Resource Allocation: Insufficient resources can lead to delays and hinder the system’s effectiveness. Project teams must ensure they have adequate personnel and time resources to complete critical implementation tasks and drive successful outcomes.
Integration with Legacy Systems: Integrating ORMS with existing legacy systems can pose compatibility challenges if integrations aren’t carefully planned and executed across teams. Compatibility issues should be addressed early in the planning stages to avoid any complications or issues with system downtime further into the deployment process.
Best Practices for Deployment
Needs Assessment: Conducting a comprehensive needs assessment before implementation makes it easier for business users to customize the system to meet specific business requirements.
Stakeholder Engagement: Involving key stakeholders from different departments early in the process ensures the system aligns with diverse business needs and secures buy-in from end-users.
Phased Implementation: Adopting a phased implementation approach allows for incremental application deployment, reducing the risk of disruptions and providing opportunities for adjustments based on feedback from employees and customers.
Robust Testing: Rigorous testing of the system in various scenarios is crucial in helping users accelerate deployment and ensure proper system functionality. Critical testing procedures include validating data accuracy, maintaining application functionality, and monitoring system performance.
Considerations for Customization and Integration
Scalability: The ability to scale the system as business needs evolve is essential in driving long-term success. Considerations for scalability ensure the system can accommodate growth and additional functionalities as needed.
Configuration Flexibility: A customizable system allows businesses to tailor ORMS to specific workflows and processes. Ensuring flexibility in configuration enables retailers to adapt their systems to execute core merchandising activities and meet evolving business needs and requirements.
Integration with External Systems: Seamless integration with other systems, such as ERP or CRM, is critical for data consistency and real-time information exchange. System compatibility and APIs should be thoroughly assessed to ensure proper connection.
Ongoing Support and Upgrades: Considerations for long-term support and upgrades are essential. Engaging with Oracle’s support services, like the Oracle Community or Oracle Retail Blog, and staying up-to-date on system upgrades ensures continued optimization and access to the latest features.
Getting Connected Through Oracle Retail Insider Groups
The Oracle Retail Community provides a collaborative forum for users to share information, ask questions, and learn from subject matter experts with extensive experience in Oracle Retail operations.
This community enables users to build a collective experience by participating in direct networking opportunities and digital experiences that expand their knowledge, connections, and reach across the Oracle landscape.
Within the Oracle Community, retail users can also join Oracle Retail Insider Groups to access essential announcements, questions, discussion boards, and invitations for events focusing on Oracle Retail products.
This way, users have an easy-to-use platform that enables collaborative engagement with peers and solution experts, simplifies valuable learning content, and leverages experience and expertise to deliver more successful deployments.
How Can We Help?
Whether you need help implementing a new Oracle Retail Merchandising System from scratch, additional support delivering intelligent integrations with third-party systems, or just an extra hand guiding employees to execute core merchandising activities more effectively, Surety Systems can help.
Our senior-level Oracle consulting team has the skills, experience, and proven track record to handle your most critical project needs and drive long-term success across teams.
Getting Started with Our Team
For more information about our Oracle consulting services or to get started on a project with our team, contact us today.
