Informix helps sun shine on UK retailers

UK retailers are to be offered weather forecasts to help them manage their supply chains.

Informix will trial a weather forecasting service from the Meteorological (Met) Office this summer as part of its Decision Frontier range. Up to six retailers will use the pilot - called Vivaldi.

Informix's retail business manager, June Swain, said grocery retailers needed weather information to make last-minute demands on their suppliers. "Even retail industries with a longer lead time, like clothing, can use weather forecasts to determine their pricing and placement strategies," she told Silicon.com.

The Met Office made one previous attempt with software company Unicorn Systems in the mid-1990s, but initial trials led to nothing.

Steve Speck, senior account manager at the Met Office's retail sector, was certain the non-exclusive contract would make a "wide-reaching" difference to the retail industry.

He told Silicon.com: "It will allow all staff members within a business to have online access to high-quality weather information - both historical and forecast. They can put this information into sales reports to see how sales are standing up against weather and then analyse it to really gain a competitive edge."

Danny Edsall, Safeway's business solutions manager for the supply chain, liked the idea. "The concept is right, we're looking at our supply chain management all the time," he said.
Safeway already has a direct feed from the Met Office, but Informix is negotiating with clients Whitbread and River Island to join the Vivaldi pilot.

Although the Met Office can predict the weather up to 30 days in advance, Vivaldi will initially forecast just 7 days ahead. MapInfo's MapXtreme technology will present the forecasts online for six major UK conurbations.