Lotte Co., Ltd. begins implementing the cloud-based product master "Lazuli PDP"

~By linking product shipment data and store data, we aim to visualize in-store inventory and reduce food loss~

Lotte Co., Ltd. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Seigen Hagiwara; hereinafter Lazuli) has begun implementing, from July 1, 2024, “Lazuli PDP,” a cloud-based product master SaaS leveraging AI technology and developed and provided by Lazuli Inc. (Head office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative Director: Hideki Nakajima; hereinafter Lotte) for building the data foundation for visualizing in-store inventory.

Lotte has set five themes as materialities (important issues) to address through its business activities, and to work concretely on these five materialities, it has established medium-term ESG targets and is working toward their realization. In the “Environment” area, one of these, it aims to reduce the rate of FLW (food loss and food waste) generation by more than 50% by 2028, compared with fiscal 2019.

As one approach to achieving this goal, the company will link shipment data for the products it manufactures with data from sales stores and visualize in-store inventory, thereby enabling it to ship the appropriate quantity to each store. In addition, based on inventory data for each sales floor, it will make it possible to analyze the differences in sales by store and their causes, aiming to improve sales.

At Lotte, shipment data from wholesalers and POS data are available, but there were discrepancies between the store master linked to the shipment data and the store names in the POS data. Because the work of preparing and standardizing those master data requires enormous labor and time, human effort could not keep up, and the company faced the challenge that it could not link and utilize both sets of data.

Therefore, by introducing “Lazuli PDP” and using Lazuli PDP’s core technology and technologies such as generative AI, the company will automate the matching of store data and the standardization of data notation according to rules, thereby linking separately managed data and realizing the construction of a data utilization platform. By connecting and visualizing/utilizing shipment data and store data, it will ship the appropriate quantity to each store and aim to reduce FLW generation.

※ What is Lazuli PDP
“Lazuli PDP” developed and provided by Lazuli is a cloud service that centrally manages product information scattered across multiple external databases and organizes and links data in a form that is easy to use. It uses AI to perform entity matching on diverse product master data held by manufacturers and retailers, and assigns meta tags and related links based on product features. This information is provided to users through “Lazuli PDP.”

＜About Lotte Co., Ltd.＞
Lotte has been engaged in business activities centered on the manufacture and sale of confectionery and ice cream since its founding in 1948, guided by the corporate philosophy: “We contribute to the prosperous lives of people around the world by providing better products and services that are loved and trusted by everyone.” It also values the three principles of “user-oriented,” “originality,” and “quality,” and develops its business activities accordingly.

＜About Lazuli Inc.＞
Lazuli is a startup founded in July 2020. Leveraging advanced AI/ML technologies, it is advancing the development and provision, as a cloud service, of “Lazuli PDP,” a SaaS that enables everyone involved in business, including DX, EC, and marketing personnel, to use product information from around the world. It strives to solve the issues of product data that are not smoothly synchronized among companies or even within a company as products are manufactured, distributed, and sold, and supports DX promotion by integrating and organizing siloed data in manufacturing and retail. It aims to realize a world in which people involved in business can easily access product information.

* “Lazuli” and its logo, and the product and service names listed are registered trademarks of Lazuli. Unauthorized copying and reproduction are prohibited.