JDA, InContext Bring VR to In-Store Category Management

JDA Software and InContext Solutions have aligned their technology platforms to combine virtual reality-based visualization with category management capabilities to let retailers walk through stores and change planograms and assortments on the fly.  

“Brick-and-mortar is here to stay, but the role it will play in a shopper’s path-to-purchase will vary,” said Mark Hardy, chief executive officer of InContext Solutions. “From showrooming, and entertainment, to discovery and convenience, retailers and products will have to continuously rethink how to keep shoppers engaged in a unified commerce world. To do this, technology and data that enables faster decisions will be needed to help evolve category management from an annual or semi-annual event to a perpetual management process.”

Initially, the companies will link the JDA Category Knowledge Base with InContext’s ShopperMX VR platform to allow immersive collaboration, visualization and testing of category strategies. Longer term, the partnership synergies will enable more agile design, analytics and deployment of total store shopper experiences for brick-and-mortar retailers, further optimizing the supply chain and store operations.

“The ability to not only test and explore new in-store retail concepts but also make planogram and assortment changes on the fly using virtual reality is a huge opportunity for retailers to take the customer experience to the next level,” said Jim Prewitt, group vice president, product management for JDA. “Partnering with InContext will enable us to embed their platform into our solutions to empower in-store retailers with delivering the best product mix for their shoppers in real-time.”  

The companies will showcase their new capabilities at the NRF Show in New York next week. A special theater presentation will be held in the JDA booth (#3037) on Jan. 15 at 10:30 a.m.