sit-up channels plans ahead with Manhattan Associates

UK's fastest-growing TV retailer implements Manhattan Associates'Integrated Planning Solutions across multiple channels

Leading supply chain solutions provider, Manhattan Associates, Inc., today announced that sit-up channels, whose portfolio of screen commerce channels includes bid tv, price-drop tv, speed auction tv and Screenshop, has completed its implementation of Manhattan Associates' Integrated Planning Solutions. sit-up channels will use Manhattan Associates' Financial and Item Planning solutions, components of its Advanced Planning solution, to service all of the company's commerce channels, which are available through digital satellite, digital terrestrial and cable TV as well as the Web and which have a collective customer base of more than 2.6 million people. sit-up channels, which is owned by NTL Inc., has a turnover of more than 239 million and profits which have already reached 10 million. sit-up channels expects the new solutions to increase its product margin and return on stock investment.

Manhattan Associates' Financial and Item Planning solutions will allow sit-up channels to automate planning processes, react to consumer buying trends and compare forecasts with actual buying habits across all of its retail channels. The solutions cover three distinct functions for sit-up channels: strategic, corporate-level planning; weekly stock, storage and intake (WSSI) monitoring; and product line planning. With between twelve and fifteen thousand product lines, accurate planning and forecasting at the product level has become essential to ensure that performance is monitored uniformly.

"Manhattan Associates' planning solutions give us a single version of the truth," said Clare Winfield, sit-up channels' director of buying and merchandising. "They provide the robust platform we need to manage our planning and trading as our business grows. The company was founded in 2000 and within a couple of years we tripled the product lines offered to our customer as well as the headcount to manage them. Thanks to the new solutions, we are now able to cope with growth in sales, channels and product lines without requiring a corresponding increase in resources. The implementation allows the team to focus on critical commercial decision-making as opposed to non-value-added activities such as data entry."

"sit-up channels is an example of a truly multi-channel business model," commented Tim Thompson, EMEA sales director for Integrated Planning Solutions at Manhattan Associates. "The company is at the forefront of some revolutionary advances in the way retailing is performed. This has posed an entirely new set of challenges for the people responsible for planning and forecasting. We are delighted that our Integrated Planning Solutions will be playing such an important part in sit-up channels' continued success and look forward to working with the company to support its ongoing expansion."