FINE-TUNED PRICING

摘要

It was a disappointing start to the fall season at the nation's retailers, with nearly 60% of the industry missing sales expectations for July. Blame blistering weather and great car deals for the poor showing at big names like Federated Department Stores, Gap, and Nordstrom, not tapped-out consumers. But regardless of the cause, the pressure will be on for stores to move fall inventory without, um, losing their shirts. Maybe it's time for the industry to take a closer look at retail revenue-management software, technology to help optimize pricing for general sales, mark- of the early converts to price-optimization software have been supermarket chains, which typically carry tens of thousands of items across hundreds of categories and must constantly readjust prices to meet supply and demand changes and competition. But department store and apparel retailers—including The Children's Place and Sears, electronics outlets Best Buy and RadioShack, and drugstore chains Duane Reade and Longs Drugs—also are trying to maximize their merchandising profits by using the technology.