Sri Lanka's leading supermarket chain

• Customer since 2021
• 130+ supermarkets
• 7,000+ SKUs 
• 70+ display categories
• 300+ Quant users 

Uditha Chathuranga  |  Assistant Manager – Space Management

What made John Keells decide to search for a different category management, planogramming and space planning system?

With our store expansion, increase in range offered to our customers and the challenging economic environment we were unable to fulfil all our planograming needs at the required pace with the previous planograming software. This influenced us to look for new visual merchandising software which catered to our requirements.

Why did you choose Quant?

The ease of use, ability to design planograms within a short period of time and ease of replicability is what drove us most to select Quant.

When did you start using Quant? How was the implementation of the system and what were the first benefits?

We first started using Quant in August 2021. The implementation of the software was not difficult as we received considerable support from the Quant developers. It was also very easy for us to migrate our planograms from the existing VMS software to Quant with the Planogram Import Wizard Feature which enabled easy import of excel files.

How long did it take you to publish first planograms to all your stores?

We conducted a gradual roll out of the planograms in our chain of supermarkets. We were able to publish our first set of planograms in less than a one-month from installation.

Have you used Quant Web from the beginning? How difficult it was for your stores to get used to it?

Yes, we have been using Quant Web from the beginning of the roll out. It was not difficult for our outlet staff to get used to it as we had a few detailed training sessions with them and briefed them clearly on the operation of Quant Web.

Do you use integrated communication channels like Chat, Blog, or others?

Yes, the Message feature and Task Management Feature are particularly helpful in obtaining feedback from the store team.

How do you upload data to Quant? Have you managed to set up automatic data transfers between Quant and your ERP?

We use APIs to import the planogram related data to Quant from our ERP system.

When opening new stores, do you plan the store floor plan and planograms before it? If yes, could you describe main benefits of having store planned in Quant prior to opening?

We typically set up the floor plans before the new store opening. With Quant we have been able to utilize existing planograms in other stores to make up the composition of planograms in the new store, enabling a faster set up of planograms and space floor plans than was previously possible.

What are your favourite reports and features?

Reports

The Placed Products overview is the most important report that we have incorporated for our day-to-day work. The report can be run for all categories and all stores at once.

Features

Space Share – this enables us to check the space share of a particular category which helps the Category Management team analyze the % of space allocated to specific brands or items within the category.

What are the main results of the project so far?

The added features provided by Quant has now made it very easy for us to design and publish planograms across all stores. The team spends less time on manually drawing each planogram and can allocate more time to drawing more planograms, which was previously a bottleneck in our overall operation.

What are your plans and targets for the future in area
of space planning and category management?

Our aim is to always bring in state-of-the-art technology and constantly improve in the areas of space planning and category management.

Would you recommend Quant to other retailers?

After working with Quant, we have realized the numerous advanced features it possesses. It has enabled us to make quicker and better decisions in our day-to-day work as a Space Manager. It isn’t easy for us to manage 132+ active stores and 70+ display categories within a volatile retail environment. However, the onboarding of Quant has helped us to manage the workload more efficiently with fewer people working on the display team compared to our previous space planning software. Therefore, I can recommend it to other retailers.