Kathy Beck Email and Phone Number

Consultant to retail industry for merchandise and assortment planning , allocation and replenishment, and lifecycle pricing. Assist clients in hiring and training teams, developing new talent and managing change; creating educational materials and programs; implementing/selecting new systems and/or improving the effectiveness of current system usage; streamlining business processes and improving business analytics.

Develop marketing messaging and product positioning for the retail industry as well as create supporting collateral materials for Revionics' Price, Promotion, Markdown, Assortment and Space Optimization and Social Commerce software solutions. Industry spokesman and subject matter expert for lifecycle price optimization.

Responsible for advising clients in the areas of merchandise planning, financial planning, assortment planning, space planning, pricing, promotions and markdowns.Responsible for P3 marketing activities.

Consulted to companies on 4 continents including consulting companies, software companies and retailers on merchandise planning and pricing.Additional experience includes: Quality Control, Documentation, Web Design, Marketing Collateral, User Manuals, Training Materials and Courseware.Long Term Consulting Positions Include:VP Marketing/Sales Support, Profimetrics, Maia, Portugal, 2005–2009Responsible for the client facing activities of IPO (Integrated Profit Optimization™), a software suite that optimizes product pricing lifecycles for the retail industry. Products include the IPO Price, Promotions, Cost and Markdown Optimizers, the Collaboration Workbench™ and the Wastage Manager™. Responsibilities include: sales support during initial client contact; developing detailed strategic pricing, promotion and markdown methodologies by interacting with all levels of the organization; documentation, implementation and training.VP Client Services, Gateway Data Sciences, Phoenix, AZ, 1998–2001Responsible for client facing activities and the support of those activities, for ERP, POS and warehouse retail software developer. Responsibilities included: managing Customer Support help line team, managing Documentation team, managing Client Customization team and managing Quality Assurance and Product Testing team.Financial and Merchandise Planning Consultant, International, 1994-1998Engaged by retail conglomerate operating chains in the UK, South Africa and Australia. Developed phased Arthur Merchandise Planning implementation plans focused on improving plan precision, level of detail and organizational best practices for several Fashion, Jewellery and Accessories specialty chains. Assisted in hiring and training of planning organization as well as improving cross-functional integration of merchandise planning with allocation, distribution and financial planning.

Responsible for implementations of Arthur Merchandise Planning

Responsible for the financial and merchandise planning group of a 1000+ store discount footwear retailer (lease departments) and 200+ store off price company stores. Developed open to buy strategy and implemented merchandise financial planning across entire company.