Autumn 2006

Home delivery and returns handling within the assisted sales process have been added to Aldata's GOLD supply-chain management suite in the latest version 5.0.5.

They are among a range of new or enhanced features announced with the new version, which include demand forecasting improvements (for sales history smoothing), and seasonal sales operation planning management.

Another new feature is collaborative product introduction management and "pre-referencing". This is aimed at smoothing the dialogue between supplier and a retailer before product is included in a retailer's catalogue.

In a package whose roots are in traditional retailing, there is understandably an emphasis on retail functions in the other enhancements, which include enhancements to "open to buy" management, and franchising extensions to streamline local product, supplier and pricing management.