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Merchandising Showdown!
Lawson vs. Epicor/CRS vs. Aldata
I'm Christina Park , senior analyst at Technology Evaluation
Centers (TEC). Welcome to another in our ongoing series of enterprise
software Showdowns. Today's Showdown compares merchandising solutions
from Lawson Software, Epicor, and Aldata Solution head-to-head.
We hope you find this Showdown helpful and informative, and invite
your comments and questions at showdown@technologyevaluation.com.
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| Introduction |
| Retail merchandising systems provide retailers of any
size with the tools to react to real-time data from across
the enterprise . These tools include everything from inventory
management and control to replenishment, forecasting, purchase
order management, point of sale, and even customer relationship
management (CRM). |
We selected two fully integrated merchandising solutions
, Epicor's CRS Merchandising and Aldata
G.O.L.D., and one
best-of-breed merchandising core functionality solution,
Lawson's Retail Operations Management. (Integrated solutions
combine core merchandising functionality with point of sale
[POS] functionality. There are best-of-breed POS-only solutions,
but we did not look at them for this vendor showdown). These
integrated solution vendors are your one-stop shop for retail
solutions, while the core functionality providers offer solid
merchandising applications. |
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Using our Merchandising
Evaluation Center, we compared Lawson Software, Epicor, and Aldata Solution
head-on. For the overall rankings, we looked at these solutions in two basic
configurations: with POS functionality for a fully integrated
solution; and without POS functionality, which many organizations
might prefer, as it allows them to combine core merchandising modules with
a separate POS application from a best-of-breed POS application vendor.
To eliminate any chance of bias, and to ensure a level playing field, all
3,072 criteria comprising the modules and submodules in the merchandising request
for information (RFI) were given equal weight and priority. In other words,
no area of functionality was treated as being more important than any other.
Please note that all the results in this report are based on the most recent
RFI data supplied to us by the three vendors, indicating their levels of support
for each of the functional criteria in our Merchandising Evaluation Center
.
Results
The chart below shows the overall rankings with POS functionality included. Epicor finishes first, with Aldata Solution in the number-two slot, and Lawson Software placing third.
Overall Merchandising Rankings with POS Functionality
Below, however, note that without POS, Lawson Software now places first, edging out Epicor and Aldata Solution, but the results are so close as to make it virtually a three-way tie in this configuration.
Overall Merchandising Rankings without POS functionality
Though Lawson Software shows weaker in the rankings that
include POS functionality, this vendor's focus is on core merchandising functionality, and its strengths are apparent in those areas. The rankings without POS constitute a true apples-to-apples comparison of pure merchandising functionality, and as you've seen, the results are extremely close.
Let's take a look at the main module rankings:
Merchandising Main Module Rankings
As indicated above, Aldata Solution has three first-place finishes, while Epicor and Lawson each have two. It's worth noting that in an area that matters significantly to retailers, inventory management, Aldata Solution takes the lead.
Both Aldata Solution and Lawson Software are both particularly
strong in price management, while Epicor is the clear winner in revenue management.
Lawson Software has particular strength in the master module, which includes
chart of accounts, pre-pack, and kitting.
But since we're looking at enterprise
software solutions, it's not that simple or clear-cut. Rankings, either overall
or by module, do not tell you everything you need to know. What they do provide
is a basic, high-level view of vendors' general strengths and weaknesses.
However, the fact is, typically no two businesses will use a merchandising
solution in exactly the same way. Businesses have unique requirements that
need to be supported by the merchandising solution they are implementing.
For
example, although Epicor placed first overall, if inventory management is
key to your business (as would be the case for retail outlets or self-sourcing
merchandisers), Aldata Solution may be a better choice than Epicor, as the
chart above indicates.
The same applies within individual modules, where
the top-ranking vendor may not necessarily be the right one for your organization's
needs. Although Aldata Solution placed first in price management, if price
and discount are important to your business, as they are for retailers
driven by loyalty programs and discounts, Lawson may be the better choice,
as illustrated in the chart below.
Conclusion
Given that straight out-of-the-box rankings generally don't reflect the real-world needs of an organization, and that the rankings can shift depending on what areas of functionality you look at, how do you determine which merchandising solution is best suited for your business?
The fastest, simplest way is to do what we did to produce
the results you see here: use Merchandising
Evaluation Center. We got
our results in twenty minutes versus weeks or even months of struggling with
huge Excel spreadsheets.
TEC's Merchandising Evaluation Center allows you to set
priorities that reflect your organization's business model and special needs
at every level of functionality. At the modular and submodular levels—even down to the individual criteria—you can tell the system which business processes are critical, important, or not important to your organization. The system then compares your priorities against the vendor responses to produce a short list of solutions. You get a custom comparison—one that ranks vendor solutions not on out-of-the-box functionality, but rather on how well that functionality matches the business requirements of your organization.
It's the best way we know of to evaluate merchandising
solutions, and we invite you to give it a run-through. Simply click on the
link below to visit our Merchandising Evaluation Center to conduct your fast,
free custom software comparison. After all, there's no other organization quite
like yours.
For a free custom comparison of merchandising solutions, click below.
Find out which merchandising solutions are best suited
to your company's particular requirements and type of business.
