INTERNATIONAL. Global cruise retailer Harding+ and next generation planning platform provider Dataviva have partnered to complete a complex supply chain project and upgrade the retailer’s forecasting and replenishment capabilities.
The project will drive product availability through increased automation, accuracy and process alignment.
Harding+ has now started to implement the use of Dataviva across the business to deliver these benefits to cruise customers.
The cruise retailer described the outcome as “a revolutionary system that will fundamentally change and improve our replenishment planning processes”.
“Simplification and automation matter for all parties in the cruise retail mix, and the successful Dataviva implementation delivers significantly against both of those agendas,” the company added.
Harding+ noted the project has seen a substantial time and resource investment from its team and that it has high expectations for the pilot areas going live. The results, it said, will enable faster planning decisions, better teamwork and integration, and significant return on capital invested from the elegant design and advanced machine learning capabilities the Dataviva system delivers.
Dataviva CEO Costas Malamas said: “Our mission is to deliver ROI to our customers. We help businesses tick more smoothly and make smarter predictions across their supply chains. The Harding+ project has been uniquely challenging but satisfying, working with an end-to-end supply chain that is one of the most complex I’ve seen – delivering across the globe to stores that ‘move’.”
Harding+ Chief Operating Officer Mark Birnie commented: “Harding+ is a business with long term commitment to data mining, gathering and understanding, already investing in over 30,000 guest surveys to help educate our product range and design choices.
“Matching up those inputs with the sharpest of response and planning systems with Dataviva to make sure we deliver consistently on availability and partner value to match the strategy is a first in the cruise industry. And very much in line with our business purpose of making every cruise better.”
The Dataviva partnership will be an ongoing part of the Harding+ operational model in delivering depth of value and accuracy across the business.
The data and insights uncovered and actioned will become part of a wider sharing strategy for the benefit of all Harding+ partners, and helping to feed events, case studies and trade fairs as part of a best-in-class collaboration model.
This will start with the National Retail Federation Show in January in New York, where Malamas and his team will be showcasing and sharing the Harding+ partnership as part of a live case study. 
