TXT event focuses on value of integrated retail planning

The outstanding location of the Savoy hotel on the Strand hosted the 3rd edition of the TXT global summit, which was organized in collaboration with Microsoft, and continues to be a key appointment for the retail and fashion community.

The focus of the day was: the value of Integrated Retail Planning and PLM in the era of multichannel and mobility. Guest speakers included Gartner, the Columbus Consulting Group, as well as some of the highest profile retailers and brands on a global scale: TXT customers Aeropostale, Desigual, Jacques Vert and Louis Vuitton Malletier.

First on stage was TXT CEO Marco Guida and Karen Laucka, Microsoft Global Alliance Director, who both provided insights into the groups’ strategies for retail.

Their 8 years partnership – TXT is one of the 65 Microsoft Global ISV partners – is marked by constant innovations in the fields of usability, visual, mobile and cloud-based solutions, including the launch at the conference of the TXTMobile platform.

As Guida announced at the Event, TXT’s PLM, buying, merchandise, assortment planning, as well as in-store visibility capabilities, are now available on Windows8 mobile devices.

Simone Pozzi, VP Sales and Marketing at TXT, then addressed the delegates with an overview of the benefits that an Integrated Retail Planning approach can bring in terms of improved service levels, customer centricity, as well as lower commercial risks - benefits which are particularly evident in cross-channel contexts. Deeper into the topic of cross-channel retailing, the Columbus Consulting Group’s Nancy Marino and Robert Hetu, Research Director at Gartner.

Mr. Hetu focused his keynote speech on the importance of understanding cross-channel behavior as a key lever to optimizing assortments, and observed: “Retailers are rightly focused on optimizing multichannel assortments to better serve customers. The theme for this year’s TXT retail event was timely for the audience, including case studies and demonstrations of TXT applications.”

At the heart of the event, the testimonials by Aeropostale, Desigual, Jacques Vert and Louis Vuitton Malletier gave real examples of retail planning and PLM implementations, highlighting best practices, process methodologies and lessons learnt.

Among the delegates, Mark Harrop, Managing Director of WhichPLM, commented: “I want to congratulate all speakers and the TXT team on yet another very positive "Thinking Retail" conference. My team and I really enjoyed the event and found the agenda educational, interesting and very well presented.”

The event closed with a live demonstration by the TXT team, showcasing the capabilities of the TXT application in supporting integrated planning - from design to store and the latest advances in the field of visual assortment and mobility. Parallel demonstrations on the value that cloud, mobile, and visual capabilities can bring to Integrated Planning were provided throughout the day at the TXT and Microsoft ‘Innovation hub’.

Simone Pozzi commented:”We would like to thank our customers and partners for the high quality content they shared and all attendees for making this event so very special. We are pleased with the level of participation, positive feedback and to see that our customers, with their great achievements, are recognized by the retail community as best-of-breed players in the retail planning and PLM space.”

TXT