Key figure
+100
Users
Across the global distribution function and multiple geographic regions
End-to-end distribution planning in Anaplan
From the central warehouse to stores, a comprehensive Supply Chain planning solution for a leading luxury player
Delivering end-to-end distribution planning in Anaplan through an automated calculation chain
Distributing inventory from central warehouses to retail stores represents a major challenge for this luxury player. With a dense store network, a wide range of SKUs, and complex product life cycles to manage (launches, phase-outs, ramp-ups), the planning model needed to balance complexity and modularity. Without automation, trade-offs became time-consuming and limited the network’s responsiveness.
We designed a solution that ensures flexibility, robustness, and seamless integration within a rich information ecosystem.
Today, all products and stores are integrated into tailor-made Anaplan applications. A daily automated process generates prioritized and secured distribution proposals, accessible and adjustable by users worldwide, ensuring smooth, shared, and decision-driven planning.
Demand typing and prioritization for optimized distribution
The solution prioritizes demands based on their business impact: operational urgencies are addressed first, followed by store stock targets to ensure product availability, then forecasts to anticipate demand, and finally regional buffers to secure the supply chain. This structured approach enables effective arbitration during supply constraints and optimizes performance across the entire network.
An intelligent allocation engine for an agile Supply Chain
The custom-built allocation engine combines business rules with advanced calculations to distribute products based on priority, urgency, and commercial impact. It automatically adjusts distribution modes, anticipates shortage situations, and projects short- and mid-term requirements. This embedded intelligence ensures a robust, responsive allocation aligned with service level and performance objectives.
Data collection and warehouse orchestration
Each distribution component transmits its daily requirements to the orchestration tool, which consolidates and ranks them using a common prioritization framework. This process ensures that priority orders are sent to the warehouse in strict compliance with logistical and operational capacities. Instructions are released in successive stages, combining automation with targeted validations to guarantee fluidity, reliability, and operational continuity.
Instructions are released in successive stages, combining automation with targeted validations to guarantee fluidity, reliability, and operational continuity.
An agile organization for successful Anaplan projects
The project relied on an agile approach, fostering collaboration and continuous adaptation to business needs. Short development cycles enabled the regular integration of new functionalities and a gradual expansion of functional coverage, while maintaining a high level of quality. This methodology ensures flexibility, responsiveness, and constant alignment with Supply Chain transformation objectives.
This success is built on the involvement of several key roles:
- Product Owner (business prioritization and validation),
- Integrators (model design and evolution),
- Quality & Testing (securing critical calculations),
- Business Project Management (coordination and overall alignment).
Operational support and application maintenance for seamless continuity
We provide comprehensive post-project support, including clear documentation, training for maintenance teams, and structured knowledge transfer to ensure operational stability and continuity.
As the calculation chain lies at the core of the distribution process, redundancy mechanisms have been implemented. In the event of an incident, an alternative process takes over to ensure the daily transmission of requirements to the warehouse without interruption, thereby securing operational performance.
SOLUTIONS
An ambitious multi-year roadmap
Several phases to achieve full functional coverage
1
Semi-automated management of workload sent to the warehouse, adjusted according to actual logistics capacities and transport constraints (air or sea), based on priority. This phase secures day-to-day execution upstream of distribution.
2
Daily calculation of allocations to regions (local warehouses or logical stock locations). Prioritization rules are applied based on demand type and product type (seasonal vs. core) to enable effective trade-offs in shortage situations. A mid-term distribution projection is simulated to anticipate future...
3
Calculation of store target stocks at SKU × store level based on the assortment. Sales are estimated using actual data, incorporating trend analysis. Safety stocks are sized to achieve the target service level, ensuring product availability while controlling volumes.
4
Initial purchase plans are retrieved and then adjusted pre-season and in-season. These adjustments address production issues, cancellations, or commercial performance gaps. Purchasing volumes are dynamically reallocated based on observed performance in each region.
5
Weekly calculation of requirements for the central warehouse. Specific rules are applied depending on product type to simulate multiple scenarios (outperformance, additional volumes, delays). The updated production plan is integrated weekly to recalculate projected stock levels at the distribution center....
Key indicators
A fully Anaplan-connected distribution process
Anaplan’s functional coverage made it possible to integrate all distribution processes within a unified platform built on multiple interconnected models.
Key figure
+90000
Active SKUs
Managed and projected within Anaplan models
Key figure
200000
Demand lines
Created, prioritized, and transmitted daily to the warehouse
Our supply chain domains of expertise
Specialized solutions for every link of your value chain
Business Process
Inventory & Distribution Planning
Simultaneously optimize product availability and commercial performance. We model your logistics network: warehouses, hubs, distribution points, in alignment with demand flows. This end-to-end view enables optimal inventory levels, efficient warehouse sizing, lower logistics costs, and consistently high service levels.
Business Process
Demand Forecasting
Anticipate market fluctuations with precision and reinforce your forecasting capabilities. Our statistical and AI models capture predictive signals while our tools harness your organization’s collective intelligence. The result: a reliable forecast that supports decision-making across the entire company.
Business Process
S&OP / IBP
Align commercial strategy with operational capabilities through a structured S&OP process. We implement applications that enable collaborative decision-making and effective trade-offs between service levels, resource utilization, and financial performance, ensuring seamless execution of your strategy.
Business Process
Production Planning
Optimize your industrial performance by balancing capacities, technical constraints, and commercial priorities. Our models help you maximize resource utilization while honoring customer commitments, supply constraints, and your broader industrial strategy.
Business Process
Store Replenishment
Maximize sales with the right product, in the right place, at the right time. Our replenishment approach combines predictive analytics with customized business rules to ensure optimal availability at point of sale while respecting operational constraints.
Other Case Studies
Assortment and replenishment
Messika
By structuring its retail replenishment on Anaplan, Messika, a luxury jewellery house, secures decision-making and supports its international growth.
Assortment and replenishment
Jacquemus
By structuring its retail replenishment on Anaplan, premium fashion brand Jacquemus is reducing overstock and improving product availability in stores.
Store Replenishment
L’OCCITANE
By optimizing replenishment for more than 1,500 stores in Anaplan, L’OCCITANE, an international cosmetics group, is improving inventory reliability and product availability worldwide.
FAQ
Discover answers to key questions about our services and approach.
Careful sequencing of calculations across the different models is essential to ensure efficient product distribution.
In theory, calculations run overnight using data refreshed at the end of the day, allowing warehouse preparation to start early in the morning. During the nightly run, central distribution calculations must be executed first, followed by regional calculations, to obtain projected stock visibility at regional level (especially for regions using logical stock). Finally, requirements are consolidated into the warehouse load and capacity analysis model to prioritize tasks and transmit a realistic to-do list.
In practice, time zone constraints must be carefully managed, and buffer days may need to be introduced between central and local runs. Data flow performance and model calculation speed are critical to meeting overnight processing timelines.
Performance is ensured through a modular model architecture, segmented by use case and, where necessary, by geographic scope. This approach limits model size, optimizes calculation times, and allows separate user scopes to be managed, while maintaining a consistent Core Model at global level.
Because the distribution run is a daily critical process, support and backup procedures are defined from the very beginning of the project. A multi-level application support (TMA) setup is implemented, along with backup mechanisms that allow calculations to be rerun or secure exports to be used in case of incidents. This anticipation significantly reduces the risk of operational disruption.
Using a single platform enables seamless data exchanges between processes, consistent calculation rules, and improved decision traceability. User training is also simplified, as teams work within the same environment across multiple distribution processes.
In this type of project, SKU × store volume is not a limitation in itself. Performance primarily depends on data structuring and model architecture. Scopes can be segmented by geographic region or product family while maintaining a Core Model logic, ensuring robustness and scalability.
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