London, UK | 10 October 2011

Manthan Systems, a leading provider of retail Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics solutions, joins hands with Planet Retail, a leading global retail analyst firm, to host Collaborating4Profit. This retail-specific event will be held at the Institute of Directors, London on October 13, 2011.

Collaborating4Profit will set the stage for cross-industry networking and focused interaction among CIOs, supply chain specialists and vendor management professionals from the retail and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry in the UK and Europe.

Says Atul Jalan, CEO Manthan Systems; “Supplier collaboration, one of the biggest challenges in the retail industry, if done right can drive retailer-supplier networks to new levels of process optimization and efficiency. Manthan’s event will focus on how best the challenges in supplier collaboration can be tackled and the latest technologies that can turn every retailer’s supply chain nightmares into huge opportunities.”

Björn Weber, Research Director of Retail Technology at Planet Retail, will preview and drive discussions on ‘Optimizing of Supplier Collaboration’ – the incisive research report by Planet Retail on the history of collaboration initiatives and their relative benefits to retailers.

Frankfurt-based Björn is the recipient of the Karl Theodor Vogel Prize for outstanding technology reporting in 2003. He will showcase examples of how global retailers such as Carrefour and Tesco use advanced supplier collaboration for competitive advantage. Bjorn specializes in technology and retail logistics and collaboration between trading partners (ECR) and has been an editor with leading media houses in Germany contributing to their coverage of the retail and CPG industry.

“Supplier collaboration has tremendous potential in today’s Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) environment with analytics playing a critical role in driving collaboration efforts to success;” points out Björn. During the first quarter of 2011, the retail and CPG industries in Europe have witnessed a general slow-down marked by cautious shopper behavior and a downward slide in retailer margins. Many high-street retailers in the UK have had to implement store-wide job cuts and a few have had to go under ‘administration’. The latest Confederation of British Industry (CBI) survey points to a dip in the September retail sales balance, the lowest so far since May 2010.

Says Andrew Blatherwick, President, Manthan Europe; “Given the industry challenges, retailers in Europe need to implement greater operational efficiency and improved inventory controls. They can share with suppliers, operational information and insights as well as composite merchandising, inventory and promotional decisions through integrated portal-based supplier connect solutions.

Manthan’s comprehensive portal-based supplier connect solution, Supplier Portal & Analytics (ARC SPA), offers retailers a platform to do all this in the most comprehensive and cost effective manner possible. SPA optimizes supplier retailer processes through close loop systems and process and its advanced analytical capabilities is a key differentiator enabling retailers and suppliers to map and monitor their supply chain performance.

Planet retail Ltd., a leading global retail analyst firm based in London, provides market research, industry intelligence, analysis, news and data covering more than 9,000 retail operations across 211 markets to retailers, suppliers, manufacturers and investors. Planet Retail has been the source of industry insights to the world's leading brands such as Walmart, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive helping them to drive growth, defend margins and diversify into new sectors and markets.

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