Case Study: The Crazy Store achieves 20% higher in‑store availability and faster replenishment with ToolsGroup

The Crazy Store Generates Serious Results with Demand Forecasting and Replenishment

The Crazy Store, the Melbro Group’s retail chain of nearly 400 discount stores across South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, struggled with a dated, highly customized replenishment system that required manual intervention, produced slow order execution and lacked timely, accurate data. These deficiencies drove up staff costs, threatened customer service levels and constrained the retailer’s ability to scale across retail, wholesale and cash-and-carry channels; the project called for improved Demand Planning & Forecasting and Automated Replenishment.

ToolsGroup implemented a “start simple” demand forecasting and automated replenishment solution, rolled out within six months and expanded in bite‑sized phases to cover all channels. The ToolsGroup system tripled order frequency, reduced per-item stock levels while boosting in‑store availability by over 20%, cut processing times by 35–40%, increased system availability to planners by three hours per day, and supported double‑digit annual sales growth over eight years, while freeing staff for higher‑value work.

The Crazy Store

Miles Norman

Merchandise Planning Director