How Retail Chain Yuki Uses PlanoHero For Efficient Store Planning

Yuki retail chain is rapidly growing and looking for new ways to optimize its business processes. Implementing planogramming software was a step towards increasing the efficiency of the retail space and ensuring accurate product layout. Find out how the Yuki chain chose PlanoHero and started automating their planogram management.

 

 

Yuki is a Ukrainian family shopping chain that sells children's clothing, toys, adult clothing, footwear, and household goods.

 

 

Interesting Facts:

 

 

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, 8 large stores with a total area of more than 8,000 square meters have been opened. The chain plans to increase the retail space of its stores to 50,000 square meters.

 

Yuki's Achievements:

2024 - participant of the “Next 250” - businesses that, according to Forbes Ukraine magazine, will shape  the future of the country's economy.

2021 - 1st place - People's brand in the nomination “Children's goods store”.

2018 - Best Interior Retail Design in Ukraine - Europe Property Award.

 

 

The Goal of Integration with PlanoHero:

• Store format development.
• Creation of store plans, equipment, and planograms.
• Shelf occupancy control.

 

 

What Stage is the Chain at?

Yuki is currently implementing store formats using PlanoHero planogram software.

We talked to Stanislav Maksymenko, Retail Space Planning and Merchandising Manager at Yuki.
Stanislav Maksymenko joined the Yuki team in June 2022. It was when Russian troops had already withdrawn from Kyiv, but the situation remained very tense. The head office in Chernihiv was damaged by shelling, and many of the chain's merchandising employees were forced to leave their jobs: some went abroad, others to the western regions of Ukraine. At that time, the stores were not yet engaged in planogramming.

 

Merchandising was not in the usual format of working with planograms but was general: employees came to the store, made a layout, took photos, and checked everything manually.

“When I started working at Yuki, I was mainly involved in store planning because many things had been lost due to the invasion, and we had to restore them. It took the first six months of my work. I was the first person in the merchandising department.” - Stanislav Maksymenko, Retail Space Planning and Merchandising Manager at Yuki.

 

 

Choosing PlanoHero

It was important for the Yuki team to find a program that would meet their specific merchandising needs. The fashion industry is very different from grocery retail, and managing product layouts is much more difficult, especially if you don't have the right tools. 

 

When it came to implementing planograms, the management considered several program options. They chose PlanoHero. They started setting up the process of working with planograms from scratch and creating all the necessary elements for a full-fledged planogramming process. 

Now, Yuki has a team of 7 people who can cover the entire working process with planograms.

 

“My job with PlanoHero is to create equipment templates, planograms, and their proper placement for the stores. I deal with all technical aspects of store planning, including working with equipment and planograms. And the team is responsible for filling the shelves with goods.”

 

 

Start of the PlanoHero Implementation Process

One of the most important points where the program's functionality is used is to control the occupancy of stores. This is an understanding of how much goods a store can hold. This understanding can be achieved in two ways: either manually, which is inefficient, or with the help of PlanoHero, which allows you to plan the assortment accurately.

 

 

Working in the PlanoHero Program. First Results and Plans 

 

Stanislav Maksymenko says that Yuki has already passed the stage of creating equipment templates, store plan templates, and planograms, so the next formats will be much easier to create.

In the future, all departments in the company will work in the PlanoHero service: merchandisers will use it to present the layout for stores, and the commercial department will need reports to understand how many products are placed in the store. The marketing department will look at heatmaps of customer movement, which are available in the program.

 

PlanoHero allows not only to optimize processes in stores but also to make the process of planogramming more transparent and efficient. The chain is confident that all departments will find the functionality useful.

“The implementation is ongoing, but we are already observing the first positive results.”

 

 

Adapting PlanoHero to the Fashion Industry

Merchandisers at Yuki create shelves in PlanoHero, adapting them to the chain's needs. 

Thanks to the planogram formats created in PlanoHero, merchandisers can determine exactly where and on which stand a certain category of goods will be placed. With this approach to layout, planograms are changed not every two weeks but once a month. The chain uses 12 product matrices that are changed monthly. For example, the product matrix for July and October contains completely different products: in October, hoodies and long sleeves, and in July, T-shirts and tops.

 

 

Implementation of Planograms in Stores

Currently, the chain is launching the process of sending planograms for execution to assess how the staff will work with the layout. Another feature of the Yuki chain is that the stores employ not regular salespeople but sales merchandisers who are more qualified and already have experience with product layout schemes. 

 

 

Why choose PlanoHero?

Team and technical support 

“The first thing that impressed me was the PlanoHero development team and technical support. It's very impressive when developers listen to feedback and work on developing the functionality. It is very important that they hear us and adapt the program to our needs,” Stanislav Maksymenko.

 

 

Functionality

The report on the displayed items was one of the main criteria when choosing the program. The chain's primary goal was not to send planograms to stores but to choose a solution to help them understand how many products could fit in a store. This is an important point for any retailer. 

 

 

Intuitive Interface and Ease of Use

“For me, PlanoHero is more intuitive and easy to use than other programs on the retail market. The program is very easy to learn. A new team member recently learned PlanoHero's functionalities in just two days.
PlanoHero has a very convenient module for working with layout, which is constantly improving. The analytics block in the program is sufficient to understand many aspects, such as the number of products displayed, the depth of the layout, and the shelf occupancy.”

 

 

Future Plans

How does the chain see cooperation in the future?

First of all, Yuki plans to finalize the formats of product layout. This includes creating detailed planograms for different categories of goods, adapting planograms to seasonal changes, and introducing new strategies for placing goods that meet their specific needs.

In addition, the chain will track the number and location of products on the shelves, allowing for more accurate planning and optimization of store space. Thus, Yuki can manage inventory more efficiently and reduce the risk of overstocking or shortages.

 

“In general, we see our future work with PlanoHero as a constant process of improvement and adaptation to new challenges. Thanks to this, we will be able to increase the efficiency of our merchandising, ensure better work organization, and create a more attractive and convenient space for our customers.”

 

Conclusion

Yuki is still at the stage of implementing PlanoHero into its processes, but they can already see significant improvements in their work. PlanoHero helps the chain manage merchandising more efficiently, understand store occupancy, and optimize assortment management.
All this makes PlanoHero an essential tool for the Yuki team. For PlanoHero, this cooperation is invaluable, as it helps to develop and become better for its customers.

“This is a big step forward in standardizing and optimizing store operations. We believe that with PlanoHero, we will be able to achieve our ambitious goals.” - Stanislav Maksymenko, Retail Space Planning and Merchandising Manager at Yuki.