Wilko improves its shopper experience with JDA

UK-based variety retailer, Wilko, has undertaken a transformational category management strategy with JDA Software. In less than 10 months, Wilko has rolled-out a broad range of SaaS-based JDA Category Management solutions including JDA Space Planning, JDA Floor Planning and JDA Category Knowledge Base, to do everything from generating planograms to creating accurate macro- and micro-space allocations for all of its 5,000 items across more than 400 stores.

Wilko is a leading multi-category value retailer of homewares and household goods and is focused on providing its customers with everything they need to keep their lives running as smoothly as possible. Wilko operates 417 stores and is a family-run business founded in Leicester by James Kemsey Wilkinson in 1930.

“This long-term strategy was designed to allow us to ‘grow by sorting the needs of Wilko families’ and is already delivering real benefits at Wilko, helping us drive customer satisfaction and value,” said Alison Hands, Commercial Execution Director, Wilko. “We’re here to provide simple and clever solutions that help real families get their day-to-day lives sorted as quickly, easily and affordably as possible – leaving them to be the best they can be. As we move into part two of our strategy with JDA, we’re confident we have a powerful category management solution to deliver continued value to our hard-working customers.”

Wilko has been a JDA customer for more than a decade, using JDA Space Planning and in 2018, chose JDA as its partner of choice to shape and drive its category management strategy, delivered via SaaS. This successful deployment encompassed six strategic areas of customer value for wilko:

• Deliver Wilko’s top 5,000 SKUs ranged in all their stores
• Remove slower moving products from stores
• Create an accurate micro space allocation with store-specific considerations
• Allocate macro space accurately and reduce oversized stores
• Drive accurate assortments in the right stores and the right times
• Help the Wilko team at Head Office and in stores to be the best it can be with a focus on value-added activities for shoppers

“Anticipating shopper demands is more critical than ever for retailers today as customers now expect this as a baseline of superior service,” said Johan Reventberg, President, EMEA, JDA. “We’re pleased to drive Wilko’s successful retail business transformation by underpinning it with our best-in-class category management solutions that will give them the right balance of right item, right store, right time, with the efficiency and agility they need in an ever-challenging and dynamic retail sector.”