A fashion matrix or "Colour-Size Matrix" refers to the means whereby fashion, footwear and apparel retailers track product variants in a grid format. These retailers manage their product variants by creating a multiple dimension grid aligning the colours of a line of stock against the sizes.
Fashion is a popular aesthetic expression in a certain time and context, especially in clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle and body proportions. Whereas, a trend often connotes a very specific aesthetic expression, and often lasting shorter than a season, fashion is a distinctive and industry-supported expression traditionally tied to the fashion season and collections. Style is an expression that lasts over many seasons, and is often connected to cultural movements and social markers, symbols, class and culture. According to sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, fashion connotes “the latest fashion, the latest difference.”
Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which originally serves to purpose of protection against adversities of the environment, usually regarding ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves the purpose to ease the locomotion and prevent injuries. Secondly footwear can also be used for fashion and adornment as well as to indicate the status or rank of the person within a social structure. Socks and other hosiery are typically worn additionally between the feet and other footwear for further comfort and relief.
For instance, a jeansmaker might sell a line of their product, Reptile. In a table on the x-axis might be sizes of the product, whilst on the y-axis would be colours, thus creating the so-called 'matrix'. These dimensions can be further sub-divided to create a multiple-dimension matrix (for instance, to include different cuts of jeans, types of denim, etc.)
Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been produced in India for hundreds of years, denim itself was first produced in the French city of Nîmes under the name “serge de Nîmes”.
Modern IT retail systems take one of two alternative approaches to the provision of a fashion matrix. Specialist size/colour systems define a product at two levels; a parent/children relationship of a) the product summary and within that b) a size/colour variants matrix. More generalised stock management systems (i.e. not specifically written for clothing and footwear) define a product on one level only, and so every size/colour (often referred to as a “variant”) is effectively a separate product in its own right and is generally presented as part of a list of single products (each of which is a separate size/colour).
Single level, generalised, stock/inventory systems may provide a mechanism which allows the user to streamline the creation of multiple size/colour variants for a product via a single action within a single interface. Thereafter most generalized systems normally track and present each size and colour as a completely separate product. Some generalized systems may also provide reports and/or screen displays which in some places in the system allow the user to pull the normally separate size/colour products together into a single overall summary per product, or even into a product matrix display.
The more specialists, approach is built around a single product (i.e. a parent) that has multiple child records (i.e. the individual size/colour variants). Products are always a collection of variants; conversely, except for some very specialist reports, variants always exist as part of an overall product. As a consequence, throughout a specialist system products can consistently be viewed either at the summary parent level (i.e. incorporating all size/colour variants) or as a matrix display. Ultimately, the extent to which this duality exists throughout the system (size/colour lists verses product summaries and matrixes) determines the extent to which the system is either generalist or specialist clothing/footwear system.
The implications for stock/inventory management of the two approaches can be profound. Where little or no duality exists, and so each variant is a separate product, users (at both the head-office and tills) will often be presented with extensive lists of style, size, colour variants which are not optimised to provide either overall product summaries or matrix displays for easier assessment of stock, sales, orders etc. Consequently, it can be onerous and error prone to assess the performance of the style overall (e.g. for markdowns, sell through etc.), or to compare styles to each other. Generally speaking a matrix will be far faster for entering stock by size and colour as well as assessing variants (i.e. sizes/colours) for re-order and transfer purposes. Likewise, at the point of sale, if only extensive size/colour lists are presented in order to identify a missing barcode or for stock lookup purposes, then this can be time consuming and subject to a high level of human error, which then leads to inaccurate stock and sales data.[1][2]
More sophisticated modern retail management systems include this functionality natively within the software, and allow variant tracking.[3]
Computer software, or simply software, is a collection of data or computer instructions that tell the computer how to work. This is in contrast to physical hardware, from which the system is built and actually performs the work. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all information processed by computer systems, programs and data. Computer software includes computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data, such as online documentation or digital media. Computer hardware and software require each other and neither can be realistically used on its own.
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe.
A website or web site is a collection of related network web resources, such as web pages, multimedia content, which are typically identified with a common domain name, and published on at least one web server. Notable examples are wikipedia.org, google.com, and amazon.com.
The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer, and indicates the options for the customer to make payment. It is also the point at which a customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or after provision of a service. After receiving payment, the merchant may issue a receipt for the transaction, which is usually printed but can also be dispensed with or sent electronically.
Distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for the consumer or business user who needs it. This can be done directly by the producer or service provider, or using indirect channels with distributors or intermediaries. The other three elements of the marketing mix are product, pricing, and promotion.
Multilingual User Interface (MUI) is the name of a Microsoft technology for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office and other applications that allows for the installation of multiple interface languages on a single system. On a system with MUI, each user would be able to select their own preferred display language. MUI technology was introduced with Windows 2000 and has been used in every release since. The MUI technology is covered by an international patent titled "Multilingual User Interface for an Operating System". The inventors are Bjorn C. Rettig, Edward S. Miller, Gregory Wilson, and Shan Xu.
A bill of materials or product structure is a list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, parts, and the quantities of each needed to manufacture an end product. A BOM may be used for communication between manufacturing partners or confined to a single manufacturing plant. A bill of materials is often tied to a production order whose issuance may generate reservations for components in the bill of materials that are in stock and requisitions for components that are not in stock.
In computing, a virtual desktop is a term used with respect to user interfaces, usually within the WIMP paradigm, to describe ways in which the virtual space of a computer's desktop environment is expanded beyond the physical limits of the screen's display area through the use of software. This compensates for a limited desktop area and can also be helpful in reducing clutter. There are two major approaches to expanding the virtual area of the screen. Switchable virtual desktops allow the user to make virtual copies of their desktop view-port and switch between them, with open windows existing on single virtual desktops. Another approach is to expand the size of a single virtual screen beyond the size of the physical viewing device. Typically, scrolling/panning a subsection of the virtual desktop into view is used to navigate an oversized virtual desktop.
Planograms, also known as plano-grams, plan-o-grams, schematics and POGs, are visual representations of a store's products or services on display. They are considered a tool for visual merchandising. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a planogram "is a diagram or model that indicates the placement of retail products on shelves in order to maximize sales." The effectiveness of the planogram can be measured by the sales volume generated from the specific area being diagramed.
Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is computer software used to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than individual users. Such organizations include businesses, schools, interest-based user groups, clubs, charities, and governments. Enterprise software is an integral part of a (computer-based) information system; a collection of such software is called an Enterprise system.
The systems architect is an information and communications technology professional. Systems architects define the architecture of a computerized system in order to fulfill certain requirements. Such definitions include: a breakdown of the system into components, the component interactions and interfaces, and the technologies and resources to be used in its design and implementation.
Digital signage is a sub-segment of electronic signage. Digital displays use technologies such as LCD, LED, projection and e-paper to display digital images, video, web pages, weather data, restaurant menus, or text. They can be found in public spaces, transportation systems, museums, stadiums, retail stores, hotels, restaurants and corporate buildings etc., to provide wayfinding, exhibitions, marketing and outdoor advertising. They are used as a network of electronic displays that are centrally managed and individually addressable for the display of text, animated or video messages for advertising, information, entertainment and merchandising to targeted audiences.
B2B e-commerce, short for business-to-business electronic commerce, is the sale of goods or services between businesses via an online sales portal. In general, it is used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a company's sales efforts. Instead of receiving orders using human assets manually – by telephone or e-mail – orders are received digitally, reducing overhead costs.
Virtuoso Universal Server is a middleware and database engine hybrid that combines the functionality of a traditional Relational database management system (RDBMS), Object-relational database (ORDBMS), virtual database, RDF, XML, free-text, web application server and file server functionality in a single system. Rather than have dedicated servers for each of the aforementioned functionality realms, Virtuoso is a "universal server"; it enables a single multithreaded server process that implements multiple protocols. The free and open source edition of Virtuoso Universal Server is also known as OpenLink Virtuoso. The software has been developed by OpenLink Software with Kingsley Uyi Idehen and Orri Erling as the chief software architects.
Visual merchandising is the practice in the retail industry of developing floor plans and three-dimensional displays in order to maximize sales.
A video wall is a special multi-monitor setup that consists of multiple computer monitors, video projectors, or television sets tiled together contiguously or overlapped in order to form one large screen. Typical display technologies include LCD panels, Direct View LED arrays, blended projection screens, Laser Phosphor Displays, and rear projection cubes.
Stock management is the function of understanding the stock mix of a company and the different demands on that stock. The demands are influenced by both external and internal factors and are balanced by the creation of purchase order requests to keep supplies at a reasonable or prescribed level. Stock management is important for every other business enterprise.
Fashion merchandising can be defined as the planning and promotion of sales by presenting a product to the right market at the proper time, by carrying out organized, skillful advertising, using attractive displays, etc. Merchandising, within fashion retail, refers specifically to the stock planning, management, and control process. Fashion Merchandising is a job that is done world- wide. This position requires well-developed quantitative skills, and natural ability to discover trends, meaning relationships and interrelationships among standard sales and stock figures.[1]In the fashion industry, there are two different merchandising teams: the visual merchandising team, and the fashion merchandising team.
Inventory management software is a software system for tracking inventory levels, orders, sales and deliveries. It can also be used in the manufacturing industry to create a work order, bill of materials and other production-related documents. Companies use inventory management software to avoid product overstock and outages. It is a tool for organizing inventory data that before was generally stored in hard-copy form or in spreadsheets.
Cybertill is a cloud-based retail software provider, which incorporates ecommerce, stock control, CRM, Merchandising and Warehousing modules. Cybertill’s headquarters are in Knowsley, near Liverpool, in the UK. Cybertill provides complete retail management solutions for multi-store retailers and brands committed to improving customer experience. Its dedicated cloud point of sale platforms, RetailStore and CharityStore enable a real-time single view of stock, sales, and customers across all customer touchpoints including branded and pop up retail shops, mobile point of sale, click and collect points, franchises, concessions, and ecommerce. The company is privately owned and funded by Merseyside Investment Fund (MSIF). and employs over 100 people.
Eurostop is an international retail technology company that provides point-of-sale (EPOS) and retail solutions to retailers in the UK. Eurostop's software solutions also include stock control and merchandising, fulfillment, business intelligence reporting, connected online channels (e-commerce) and a tenant sales management system. The company's headquarters are in London, with other offices in Singapore and China.
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