Powell joins as VP of Merchandising and Category Management, assuming responsibility for Symphony Retail’s customer-centric, cloud-based offerings, used by 700+ retailers and CPG manufacturers globally
DALLAS – Dec. 12, 2017 – Symphony Retail Solutions, a leading provider of software and services for retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers, today announced that Ryan Powell has been named Vice President of Merchandising and Category Management. In his new role at Symphony Retail, Powell will be responsible for all areas of the company’s Merchandising and Category Management business, including product management, innovation, R&D and go-to-market strategy.
Powell most recently led the Global Category Management practice at Capgemini and previously served in executive positions with JDA, Red Bull and MVP Innovation. He is a recognized expert in category management solutions and best practices and has extensive experience working with both retailers and CPG companies. Powell will focus on ensuring customer business value, understanding current and future industry and technology trends, and leveraging Symphony Retail’s game-changing AI technologies to drive exponential growth and efficiencies for retailers and CPG brands.
“Ryan is a proven leader with a passion for innovation, and he is the ideal person to lead our Merchandising and Category Management group,” said Graeme Cooksley, CEO & President, Symphony GOLD Business Unit. “Ryan joins us at an exciting time when we are rapidly extending Symphony Retail’s leadership in merchandising and category management and widening the innovation gap between ourselves and other solution providers.”
More than 250 retailers and 450 CPG manufacturers in over 60 countries rely on Symphony Retail’s solutions every day. This depth and breadth of market penetration has made it possible for Symphony Retail to generate more than 50 million planograms and execute more than 8 million store category assortments annually. Albertsons, Blokker, Lipari Foods, Pague Menos and Giant Eagle are among the many retailers and CPG brands that have migrated to Symphony Retail’s next-generation cloud merchandising and category management solutions.
Symphony Retail’s newest innovation brings artificial intelligence and machine learning to category management, with CINDE (Conversational INsights and Decision Engine), the first digital analytic assistant for grocery and hard goods retail. CINDE incorporates AI, prescriptive analytics, natural language speech technology, and immersive visualization in a system that receives input from users and provides conversational answers. CINDE goes far beyond the simple tasks currently performed by many voice and AI-powered applications, providing instant answers to the most complex category management questions.
At the heart of its retail solutions is a Customer 360° platform, which gathers and analyzes customer attributes for online shopping, grocery, restaurant, store location and customer location data (mobile location tracking) and other demographic data. Unlike many solution providers, Symphony Retail’s offering is flexible and data-agnostic, meaning retailers can rely on data and insights derived from the Customer 360° platform, or from a third-party vendor.
“Symphony Retail Solutions is transforming retail by driving customer intelligence into all planning and execution decisions,” said Powell. “While our competition is only talking about partnerships, I look forward to further accelerating the growth of the world’s leading customer-centric assortment and space planning solutions that are already used by many of the world’s grocery retailers and CPG manufacturers. I’m thrilled to join the company that is continuously innovating and shaping the future of retail solutions.”
Meet with Symphony Retail Solutions in Booth #1553 at NRF, Jan. 14-16, at the Javits Center in NYC. For more information or to schedule a meeting visit nrf.symphonyretailsolutions.com
About Symphony Retail Solutions
Symphony Retail Solutions brings together Symphony EYC’s customer-centric retail insight solutions with the Symphony GOLD unified software for omni-channel retail to solve the toughest business problems for 15 of the world’s 30 largest retailers, thousands of retail brands, and hundreds of national and regional chains worldwide. These combined capabilities also power the Symphony Retail Cloud, the industry’s first role-based, customer-centric cloud solution that enables retailers and manufacturers to deliver more than two percent revenue growth by translating customer intelligence into insights and actions that drive bottom-line decisions. More at www.symphonyretailsolutions.com
Media Contact
Adrienne Newcomb
Ketner Group PR + Marketing (for Symphony Retail Solutions)
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512-794-8876