News

Wednesday, 07. January 2009

Retail Simulation Engine users can now integrate market promotion data and prices from the competition which have been compiled by FOCUS Germany. This enables them to take even more highly substantiated price and promotion decisions in the future.

Saarbrücken, January 7, 2009. The software-supported optimization of a company’s price and promotion policy is an effective instrument for profit optimization in the retail industry. In addition to the targeted analysis of one’s own receipt and customer data, a particularly significant determining factor here is information on the price and promotion strategy of the relevant competitors. In cooperation with the renowned market research organization FOCUS Germany, Dacos now  provides its customers with a further advantage:  Retail Simulation Engine users now have the opportunity to seamlessly access the relevant promotion and price data of their competitors offered by the services ‘Action FOCUS’ and ‘InStore FOCUS’ to integrate them in their decision-making processes.

Action FOCUS thereby provides a comprehensive view of all advertised promotion activities of the German retail industry, including the promotion prices, over a household panel study and the evaluation of print media. InStore FOCUS supplements this by supplying information on the prices of in-store products (so-called shelf prices).

„This new partnership offers our customers a simple and effective way to make the right strategic decisions and to thereby attain a competitive advantage. Thanks to the integrated use of the FOCUS services within the modules of the Retail Simulation Engine, our customers can factor in both shelf prices as well as temporary promotion prices from the German retail industry for the competition-based optimization of their price and promotion decisions. The potential of the price and promotion engine is thereby exploited to its full extent“, explains Prof. Dr. Joachim Hertel, Managing Director of Dacos Software GmbH. The advantage for  Dacos customers is obvious, according to Martin Felberbauer from FOCUS Germany: „If a retailer starts a promotional action today and thereby doesn’t keep an eye on the competition, it often results in a waste of time and money, since the advertisement doesn’t have the intended impact.“

With this new cooperation Dacos consequently continues to follow its usual strategy: „We want to provide our customers with the best service and the highest profit increases  – simply and with a one-stop solution“, is Hertel’s clear message. „Our software provides many services simultaneously and thereby still remains practical. Everything else would be too time consuming for the retailer.“

The economonic contribution of price and promotion optimization according to objective criteria has already been recognized by many retailers. This has resulted in a conclusive decision for implementing the products of Dacos Software GmbH by seven leading retail companies in the German-speaking region.

About Dacos
Dacos Software GmbH develops software for the simulation, analysis and prognosis of customer behavior. With the Retail Simulation Engine, assortments, prices and promotions in the retail industry can be reliably simulated and optimized. This innovative software solution is based on the research results of Artificial Intelligence and the scientific evaluation of the retail and marketing industries. Since the introduction of this solution on the market, seven retail businesses have already decided to implement the Retail Simulation Engine.

About FOCUS Germany
FOCUS Germany Marketing & IT Research GmbH, with headquarters in Oberursel, is a company belonging to the FOCUS Group that was founded in 1994 in Vienna and is one of today’s leading market research and IT consulting companies, with successful operations in over a dozen European countries. FOCUS Germany provides data, know-how, systems and consulting in the business sectors Market & Consumer Research, Media Research, Price Monitoring and IT Consulting & Solutions. In particular, FOCUS Gemany offers comprehensive and precise services in the area of market price research and advertising effect research for the German retail industry and the  consumer goods industry.