Follett Higher Education Group readies for the back-to-campus rush with Manhattan’s Planning solutions
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- America
Country
- Canada
- United States
Product
- Manhattan Assortment Planning
- Manhattan Financial Planning
- Manhattan Item Planning
Tech Stack
- Assortment Planning
- Financial Planning
- Item Planning
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Customer Satisfaction
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
- Functional Applications - Inventory Management Systems
Applicable Industries
- Education
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Sales & Marketing
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Predictive Replenishment
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Founded in 1873, Follett Higher Education Group (FHEG) is the seventh oldest retailer in the United States. The privately owned company generates consolidated sales exceeding $2 billion and employs nearly 10,000 associates throughout North America. FHEG is one of Follett Corporation’s seven business units and is the nation’s largest contract operator of college and university bookstores, with almost 900 locations. The company supplies emblematic clothing, gift merchandise, textbooks, school supplies, convenience items, general reading books, and computer products to a wide variety of colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. FHEG provides merchandise specifically designed and manufactured for each college campus, catering to the unique traditions and preferences of each institution.
The Challenge
Follett Higher Education Group (FHEG) faced significant challenges in ensuring that merchandise hit college bookstore shelves in time for the two annual back-to-campus selling seasons. The traditional manual processes for merchandise planning were time-consuming, taking approximately six weeks just to input data. This inefficiency slowed down the delivery of merchandise, making it difficult to meet the specific needs of each campus. The company needed a more efficient method to plan, order, and place merchandise that would sell rapidly across approximately 900 bookstores. The planners required a better method to predict and order the best merchandise assortment to sell rapidly during its 'Christmas' seasons. The goal was to get the right products in place at the right time to avoid losing business to off-campus retailers.
The Solution
Follett Higher Education Group (FHEG) implemented Manhattan Associates’ Planning Solutions, which included Assortment Planning, Financial Planning, and Item Planning modules. These solutions were chosen because they could replicate FHEG’s unique business processes without requiring major modifications. The implementation process was aggressive, with the Assortment Planning and Item Planning processes tackled in just six months. The Manhattan solutions allowed FHEG to fine-tune how it orders merchandise based on assortment and item plans generated by store planners. This significantly reduced the time required for manual purchase order data entry from six weeks to an overnight interface process. The solutions were user-friendly, intuitive, and required minimal development work, making them a perfect fit for FHEG’s needs.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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