Transforming  the sales planning process of a Supplier of Seasonal Stationery Items

A supplier of seasonal stationery items relied on Excel and lacked the visibility and efficiency they required in their ranging and sales planning process. The business stocked thousands of products across thousands of stores and needed a tool to replicate the established Excel based process. Their process was based on tight planning deadlines, and the risks and inefficiencies of their spreadsheet-based approach led to numerous reworks and many non-value-adding activities. Additionally, it imposed limitations on the granularity of their planning, resulting in sub-optimal product ranging.

Cauself took the time to understand their business process and how their spreadsheet process was designed to meet their requirements. The  design of their  spreadsheets revealed insights into how the business perceived and resolved the process and problem. Using Cauself's flexible design and agile development methodology, we rapidly created a solution that reduced their reliance on Excel and significantly improved visibility and planning efficiency.

Uncovering Key Market Drivers for a Beverage Manufacturer

A beverage manufacturer operating within a traditional market needed to understand the key market drivers influencing demand. As a national supplier of beverages sold to thousands of outlets, they wanted to better comprehend the factors that drove demand. The challenge was that each outlet behaved differently and was affected by various factors such as weather, school holidays, public holidays, asset distribution (e.g., fridges), client count, and pricing.

Using Cauself, an in-depth analysis was conducted to identify the key drivers for each market, uncovering concealed drivers that weren't easily recognizable with an unstructured, spreadsheet-based approach. This enabled the business to gain a better understanding of how their operational mechanisms (e.g., delivery frequency) affected demand and to identify any underlying trends in specific markets that needed to be addressed. The analysis was delivered rapidly and allowed for the consideration of multiple causal factors, providing valuable insights into the factors driving demand across different outlets.