News

Wednesday, 07. May 2008

Price Optimization in Record Time: Dacos implements the Price Engine at Ihr Platz

Ihr Platz has selected the Price Engine from Dacos Software to optimize the strategic pricing of the entire assortment. During the implementation of the project, the software producer from Saarbrücken surpassed themselves: in spite of exceptional challenges, Dacos only needed four months from kickoff to “go-live”.

Saarbrucken, May 7, 2008 - "Successful retailers realize pricing as an indispensable instrument to boost their sales, to increase their profit and to gain more and especially more satisfied customers", says Professor Dr. Hertel, CEO of Dacos Software. "As a  basis for their pricing, retailers use well-substantiated and detailed information on their customers` behavior. To support its own strategic price policy, the affiliation(?) Ihr Platz decided to make use of a product developed by the software company located at Saarbrucken. This decision was meant to be the starting signal for the implementation of the Price Engine with the renowned drugstore chain. And despite of having to face exceptional challenges, Dacos only needed four months from kickoff to "go-live".

With the project, the experts from Dacos entered new and uncharted territory in several aspects. For instance, they integrated the Price Engine in a previously existing SAP system for the very first time. The sales data, that serve as a basis for the price optimization, are thus directly accessed from the SAP Business Warehouse from Ihr Platz. Following the price calculation, the findings flow into the merchandise management system SAP Retail, which is used by the company. In addition, the Price Engine has been implemented with a new functionality: the prices of the competition can automatically be integrated into the calculation. Even the price level concept of the drug store chain was taken into consideration. The prices applied in the individual stores vary according to location. This means that the Price Engine not only has to determine an optimal price per product, but for each product in every price level. The implementation of the software was highly welcomed by the company employees. “Our merchandise assortment is very wide-ranged. There are consequently so many different possible price combinations that they can’t be handled without intelligent software. With the Dacos Price Engine, we can support our employees with the complex task of pricing“, remarks Marion Bolte, Purchasing Department Director at Ihr Platz. ”The software solution from Dacos was easily integrated in our existing IT system“, added Michael Lahrmann, responsible for Data Warehouse within the drug store enterprise’s IT. ”Now we can optimally utilize the data material that we have collected to realize reliable price calculations.“

About Dacos

Dacos Software GmbH was founded in 2001 as a spin-off of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence. The focus of the company is the development of a new generation of analysis, prognosis and simulation systems. Dacos has previously developed corresponding software solutions for the retail industry and the consumer goods industry. The implementation of Dacos core technology is planned in additional industries. Dacos was founded by Professor Dr. Joachim Hertel, Professor Dr. Joachim Zentes and Professor Dr. Jörg Siekmann (all Saarland University), among others. The Dacos developments are based on the latest findings in the area of Artificial Intelligence and trade and marketing research.