Invent Analytics delivers significant financial improvement by empowering retailers to profit-optimize their supply chains. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Invent Analytics inventory solutions director Koray Parkin to learn more.
Koray Parkin’s Background
Parkin has been with the company since its founding in 2013. Parkin said:
“Invent Analytics is helping retailers profit-optimize their retail supply chain and inventory planning through AI, and I was a part of the team of data scientists that built the platform’s initial algorithms and the foundation. Leaning on the knowledge I gathered in this process, I’m now the Inventory Solutions Director, where I specialize in demand forecasting, data analytics, algorithm development, and inventory optimization.”
“As the Inventory Solutions Director, I work directly with clients throughout the implementation process and beyond to maximize the profit-value of our solutions. I work closely with the Invent client team in the U.S. to ensure our retailers are getting the best experiences possible and are utilizing the solutions in the best way. Bridging the gap between sales and our product development team, it’s my job to listen and understand each retailer’s challenges to help guide our project management team in addressing these issues. I work with them to understand their business processes, analyze their data, and implement systems that will help meet their objectives and goals given their unique situation. Our philosophy is to decrease manual processes and use our AI/ML Profit-Optimization Platform to deliver ongoing value for our clients and I work with the teams to ensure this happens.”
Core Products
What are Invent Analytics’ core products and features? Parkin explained:
“Invent Analytics offers Omni-AI, a suite of intelligent retail supply chain planning solutions designed to deliver significant financial improvements to large retailers. By using the power of explainable AI and adaptive analytics, our solutions enable retailers to solve omni-channel challenges, profit-optimize their supply chains from end to end, and win in the new world of retail. To date, we’ve helped over 30 large retailers worldwide to increase their net profitability by 2% to 6%.”
“Our Omni-AI decision platform is made up of three core pillars: Omni-Network Design, Omni-Plan, and Omni-Fulfillment. First, Omni-Network Design helps retailers make smarter supply chain configuration decisions. Then, Omni-Plan makes profit-optimized decisions for every inventory management process, including omnichannel demand forecasting, allocation, store & DC replenishment, buy optimization, assortment analytics, inventory transfers, pricing, promotions, markdowns, phantom inventory detection, and returns positioning.”
“Finally, Omni-Fulfillment helps retailers make optimal order fulfillment decisions to reduce overall costs and maximize inventory availability. Everything is part of one unified framework, so retailers can manage their entire supply chain in the most effective, profitable way.”
Formation Of Phantom Inventory App
How did the idea for the Phantom Inventory app come together? Parkin pointed out:
“We saw a challenge for retailers and decided to create a single solution to help them solve it. It’s a common issue for stores to have discrepancies between their inventory records and their physical inventory. And, sometimes, when a product isn’t selling as expected, it’s because that product is not actually available on the store shelf. That’s known as phantom inventory. Phantom inventory negatively impacts everything from forecasting accuracy and planning decisions to sales and customer satisfaction. And it’s nearly impossible for retailers to spot and fix these issues when they rely on infrequent, manual inventory counts.”
“For years, Invent Analytics has helped our clients efficiently detect and solve phantom inventory issues as an add-on service. Now, we’ve made those same capabilities available through our Phantom Inventory solution and app. To help retailers address issues like wrong shelf placements, inaccurate pricing, product damage, data entry mistakes, and any other human error, our Phantom Inventory solution analyzes a retailer’s demand forecasts, sales data, and inventory data. It accurately predicts and identifies inventory inaccuracies, or cases of phantom inventory, then alerts store managers so they can solve the issue.
“With the added mobile app, the Phantom Inventory solution will send weekly alerts to store managers to check specific locations on the shelves for potential discrepancies. The alerts list suspected phantom inventory at the SKU level, plus quantify how much sales will increase by resolving the issues Managers use these alerts to quickly zero in on each case of phantom inventory. The root cause is often a simple execution error like I mentioned, such as wrong shelf placement, an incorrect price tag, or a data entry error. Then managers can address the problem fast. Using our solution to find and fix inventory errors, retailers reduce lost sales, increase product availability, and ultimately boost customer satisfaction.”
“Our Phantom Inventory solution is fast to implement and can prove substantial results in just a few weeks. An additional benefit for retailers is that the solution requires very light data integration and minimal IT resources to implement with very high return on investment.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Invent Analytics’ most significant milestones? Parkin cited:
“Invent Analytics was founded in 2013 in Istanbul, Turkey by Professor Gurhan Kok, a pioneer provider of advanced-analytics products for the retail industry. The company initially began working with Turkish retailers, but quickly expanded to work with retailers throughout Asia, Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. And, by 2020, Invent Analytics had been named a “Top Supply Chain Startup” by Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA).”
“In October 2021, Invent Analytics officially announced the launch of our profit-optimizing retail supply chain solution suite Omni-AI. And in 2022, the company announced it had raised $7.5 million in Series A funding to accelerate success in Western Europe and North America. With this growth brought the need to also grow our team. So, we acquired our U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia and added several executive leaders and other team members, all who have been instrumental to our success.”
“That same year, we were named as a representative vendor in the 2022 Gartner Market Guide for Retail Forecasting, Allocation and Replenishment solutions and the Market Guide for Retail, Unified Price, Promotion and Markdown Optimization Applications – Short Life Cycle.”
“Recently, of course, we just announced the availability of our Phantom Inventory App, which has already achieved success in the industry. Last month, we also announced that Tailored Brands, the parent company of Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, has successfully optimized inventory for its event business using our AI-driven solutions.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Parkin about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“Academy Sports + Outdoors is a great example of how our technology and ability to simulate results before execution can drive big financial improvements. Based in Texas, Academy Sports + Outdoors has been around for more than 80 years. It is now one of the largest sporting goods and outdoors retailers in the U.S., operating 259 stores across 16 states “
“Academy Sports + Outdoors had been running on a traditional replenishment platform, which came with numerous challenges around performance and efficiency. So in 2018, the company set out to find a better, smarter solution that could improve the productivity of its inventory and optimize fulfillment execution.Overall, the goal was to improve inventory availability and reduce lost sales–which would boost both profitability and customer satisfaction.”
“After evaluating five solution providers, Academy Sports selected Invent Analytics, thanks to our flexible solutions that can simulate financial results before execution. We were the only provider capable of meeting the company’s needs and delivering fast implementation. First, we began with historical analysis and simulations to understand which categories presented the largest opportunity. Next, we ran a live in-market A/B test, which identified changes in inventory levels on an item/store level and had a significant financial impact on revenue and margin. Then, we performed rigorous in-market tests comparing our results to those of 60 planners and their existing replenishment solution for 50 stores in 13 categories to prove financial results. The results showed an increase in revenue and margin with less inventory in just two months, so we rolled out our solution across the entire chain.”
“Other solutions in the marketplace require lengthy, year-long implementation. But with Invent Analytics, Academy Sports + Outdoors had our solution up, running, and driving results in record time. Within three months, the pilot went live. And in just two months, everything was ready for a successful roll-out. Leveraging Invent Analytics’ technology and expertise, Academy Sports + Outdoors has significantly improved product availability, reduced lost sales, minimized inventory costs, and maximize profit margins.”
“Another recent example of how we’re helping shape the retail industry is in our work with Tailored Brands—a leading omnichannel menswear and formalwear retailer with brands including Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank, Moores, and K&G Fashion Superstore. In fashion retail, customer experience is a huge part of success, and having the right items available at all times is crucial. However, with customers continuously changing preferences in styles, colors, and size choices, Tailored Brands relies on Invent Analytics’ AI-powered solutions to optimize inventory planning and allocation in its tuxedo business.”
“With Invent Analytics’ AI-powered solutions, Tailored Brands is able to achieve higher forecast accuracy and more precise inventory planning, including optimized buying at style-size level, which reduced the need for new inventory orders and increased profitability. And, with optimized allocation, Tailored Brands is able to reduce out-of-stock situations to ensure rental customers have exactly what they want immediately available, without the need to substitute with a similar SKU. By ensuring immediate access to items, Tailored Brands is able to increase overall sales, boost profit margins, and significantly improve customer satisfaction.”
“Many large retailers, like GNC, are using our AI-powered solutions to generate accurate demand forecasts to make smarter decisions about inventory planning, store replenishment, and DC replenishment. GNC implemented and leveraged Invent’s AI-powered retail profit optimization solutions and was able to improve profitability and increase sales capture by 150 basis points, all while still reducing inventory.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Invent Analytics from its competition? Parkin concluded:
“First and foremost, Invent Analytics focuses on profit optimization. Other systems in the market are rule-based, meaning they aim to hit targets made up by human inventory planners. These KPIs are things like service level or weeks of supply—metrics that don’t clearly align and often conflict with financial goals. In contrast, Omni-AI makes granular inventory planning decisions based on maximizing profit for every SKU-location-time combination. Planning teams can quantify the financial impact of every inventory decision, so retailers can take the most profitable paths and see big improvements in margins. And because our solutions position the right products in the right place at the right time, customer satisfaction also gets a big boost.”
“Secondly, competitor systems involve lengthy timelines, complicated integrations, and uncertain ROI. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes planning systems can take a year or more to get running and even longer to generate results, if any. However, we can integrate Omni-AI with a client’s ERP, WMS, and other IT systems in just 90 days, and we can make use of the data they already have available. Our value is proven through pre-go-live simulations and A/B testing, so retailers see the quantifiable financial impact. Then, our system starts making inventory planning decisions immediately to achieve rapid results. We’re the only ones in the market who offer an in-market test in 3 months to get quick, tangible bottom-line impact.”
“Finally, we’re not just a technology vendor—we’re a true partner. Our experts understand that each retailer is different. That’s why we continue to craft or tailor-fit our solutions to meet each client’s unique needs. We want the solution to be used for all categories, not just the core. And the support doesn’t end there. We provide ongoing support to each client through a dedicated ‘HUB MODEL’ of our flexible AI platform and top-notch data scientists and software engineers. Throughout the partnership, we continuously deliver new capabilities to our users and work with each client’s supply chain team to identify opportunities for profit-optimization to impact their business.”
