News Briefs

SAS is teaming with Cosmo Tech, a provider of simulation and digital twin supply chain technology, to build a hybrid AI-powered digital twin solution that connects demand planning and forecasting with production and inventory planning.

The technology is expected to create more resilient end-to-end supply chains for retailers and CPGs, including maintaining production quality and reducing waste, meeting demand shifts while minimizing lost sales, and maximizing resources.

It also seeks to help companies better anticipate risks, as well as as manage costs, margins, and supply chain disruptions.

The solution, which involves the SAS Cloud for Intelligent Planning Suite running on SAS Viya and the Cosmo Tech 360 Simulation Platform, is designed to increase organizational flexibility by analyzing the data flowing off IoT devices like RFID tags, production lines, and vehicle telematics. The companies will focus initially on supply chains for manufacturing, consumer goods, and retail, with benefits potentially applying to other industries.

Dan Mitchell, SAS global director of retail and CPG, noted in a statement that the supply chain’s fragility has been revealed during recent crises.

“Looking back on the last couple of years, we can see all the things we thought were inefficient before — multiple distribution centers, carriers and routes — were actually investments in resiliency,” he added. “Consumer goods manufacturers typically rely on just a few analysts and planners to create a multitude of forecasts. Using intelligent automation with machine learning like digital twins allows companies to automate complex tasks so analysts are freed up for more critical work.”

This is also published on CGT, an RIS News sister publication. 

Lululemon Athletica Inc., is looking to bolster its marketing mix measurement, leveraging a more holistic approach to better understand which strategies are most effective and reaching consumers no matter where they are. To do so, the company has tapped Nielsen as its preferred marketing mix modeling provider in the U.S. and Canada. 

The technology will allow Lululemon to analyze the performance of its marketing investments in order to optimize strategies and adjust budgets accordingly. The company will be able to measure the impact of several online segments, including search, display, video and social, as well as offline and external efforts like in-store promotions and macro market trends and the competitive landscape. 

Along with helping Lululemon find the optimal channel mix to balance its short-term sales goals and long-term brand growth, the company can lean on this technology to get a deeper understanding of which marketing decisions are driving ROI in sales, customer acquisition, and site traffic. 

Dave Suwanski, vice president of the marketing mix product at Nielsen, stated that advertisers today must have confidence in their data and measurement in order to improve the effectiveness and ROI of their marketing spend. 

"We are pleased to work with Nielsen, in tandem with our teams, as we quantify the effectiveness of our marketing initiatives," said Justin Richmond, chief digital analytics officer at Lululemon. "Nielsen's experience in brand marketing outcomes and measurement will aid us in ensuring we are adding value to new and existing guests with resonant messaging."

This article first appeared on the site of sister publication CGT. 

RIS parent company EnsembleIQ has named Jesse Yeung vice president of marketing. In the newly created position, Yeung will be responsible for EnsembleIQ’s marketing strategy including brand marketing, marketing communications and marketing operations that fuel audience engagement, revenue and business growth.

Yeung has had a long career at Informa Connect. Most recently, he was the marketing director where he was responsible for leading an integrated marketing strategy for digital and event brands in the restaurant, foodservice, catering, grocery, meetings, and special events industries. 

[Read more: RIS Parent EnsembleIQ Investing in Membership and Subscriptions With New Hire: Craig Lowe]

A strategic and data-driven marketer, Yeung has extensive audience development, demand generation, content marketing, and event marketing expertise supporting business-to-business content and event brands. Earlier in his career, Yeung was with Penton.

“We are fortunate to have Jesse to lead our marketing efforts. He brings a wealth of experience in the business-to-business foodservice, grocery, and meetings/events industries to this important position. Jesse’s role is vital to increasing awareness of EnsembleIQ and our properties in retail, healthcare, and hospitality,” said Joe Territo, executive vice president, content and communications, EnsembleIQ.

For the fourth year, convenience store retailer 7-Eleven is launching its Brands With Heart event, opening up applications for companies who want to feature their products on 7-Eleven, Speedway, and Stripe shelves across the U.S. and receive mentorship opportunities. 

The program features a panel of leaders at the company that will identify potential food and beverage trends among applicants during an in-store test. They will then help develop the winning brands to ultimately feature them on the shelves of participating U.S. stores. 

[Related: 7-Eleven Launches Delivery Subscription]

The company stated it is looking to diversify its product offerings beyond the traditional c-store assortment. Applications will remain open through the end of May.

"The Brands With Heart showcase attracts hundreds of applicants from up-and-coming brands each year and gives us the unique opportunity to scope out new products that might make the perfect addition to our stores' shelves — such as Lemon Perfect, which was discovered during our 2019 Brands with Heart event," said Jack Stout, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer at 7-Eleven.

Publicis Groupe will be acquiring Profitero, an SaaS global ecommerce intelligence platform that provides services to more than 4,000 brands and 70 million products on more than 700 retail websites. 

The purchase will allow users to leverage predictive intelligence to deliver improved product experiences, optimize content, increase organic search results, compare competitor pricing, monitor product availability, and track consumer ratings. 

According to the company, Profitero will enable brands to track their performance compared with competitors across dozens of metrics, including paid and organic search placement, product content, pricing, stock availability, and reviews. Additionally, users can manage ad placement while leveraging Publicis Groupe’s consulting, design, engineering, and marketing services. 

Profitero will remain a product-focused company within Publicis, led by CEO Bryan Wiener and president Sarah Hofstetter. Wiener will report to Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun.

Sadoun stated that adding Profitero to its portfolio allows the company’s clients to capture an “unfair share of the exponential growth in online sales” by optimizing their online product catalog with Profitero, maximizing their online spend with CitrusAd, and leveraging the scale of Publicis Media. 

Wiener stated the partnership marks the best of both worlds “as we retain our entrepreneurial spirit as a product-led organization while benefiting from the Publicis Groupe's diverse capabilities and scale.”

This article first appeared on the site of sister publication CGT. 

Levi Strauss & Co. is piloting two new capabilities on the Levi’s website to prevent online returns stemming from size and fit issues, while promoting an inclusive experience.

The new See It In My Size feature helps shoppers to better relate to who is modeling products through authentic and inclusive representation, while the new What’s My Size? pilot is a sizing tool recommendation algorithm.

“One of our key innovation priorities is to enhance the online shopping journey and create truly personalized, seamless experiences for our consumers,” said Lara Lasisz, direct-to-consumer innovation lead at LS&Co. “With online shopping, one of the biggest obstacles the industry faces is how to transfer the fitting room experience to a digital environment. We’re dedicated to finding the right technology that will help our fans find the perfect fit from the start.”

See It In My Size

Often, retailers’ product pages feature one model for each product, lacking a diverse preview of sizes and body types. With Levi’s new feature, once consumers click the See It In My Size button on the website, they can select their size and an image of the garment will appear on a person more similar to their size, height, body shape and/or skin tone. This experience aims to cultivate an inclusive experience and give consumers a more accurate preview of the item.

To gather all the necessary images, the Levi’s team organized several initiatives with both employees and micro-influencers. Earlier this year, the retailer launched a companywide contest asking employees across the globe to submit photos in specific Levi’s products that would be featured on the website. The team also conducted photo shoots with micro-influencers across Northern California, the U.K. and Brussels, as well as a pop-up in North Carolina, to get a robust photo library across a diverse range of sizes.

The See It In My Size pilot is available on the desktop now in the U.S. and will be available across Europe — including France, the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Spain — in the coming month.

What’s My Size?

The pilot of What’s My Size? recommendation algorithm allows consumers to click a button and add their height, weight, and gender. From there, the algorithm will recommend the best size to select. After the consumers does this once, the recommendation will follow the consumer throughout their shopping journey and suggest the best size for each product being viewed.

What’s My Size is available on the desktop in six countries in Europe (France, Germany, the UK, Netherlands, Spain and Italy) and will be available on the U.S. mobile app in June 2022.