Software donation renewal equips more Retail students with in-demand technical skills

A renewed donation is giving Retail Management students at the Ted Rogers School of Management valuable hands-on experience with industry-leading software, helping them build real-world skills.

Blue Yonder, the world leader in end-to-end digital supply chain transformation, extended their ongoing relationship with the Ted Rogers School by donating software and license agreements. This gift will continue to provide Retail Management students with access to leading supply chain and category management applications, ensuring they graduate with highly relevant, in-demand technical skills. The initial gift was made in 2003 by Jim Armstrong, co-founder and former chairman of JDA Software (Blue Yonder’s former name), who was a student in the university’s Mechanical and Industrial Engineering program in the 1970s. 

“Through their experience using this software, our students gain critical insights into how retailers and suppliers collaborate, share knowledge and strategically plan products to meet consumer demand. This positions them well to launch successful careers in the vast retail ecosystem," said Janice Rudkowski, Assistant Professor, Retail Management.

As the only post-secondary program in Canada to integrate this software into a Bachelor of Commerce degree, this partnership strengthens Ted Rogers School’s commitment to delivering a cutting-edge, experiential business education that prepares students for success in a competitive job market.

"The Ted Rogers School is incredibly grateful for our more than 20-year relationship with Blue Yonder, and for the latest gift renewal of their industry-leading software,” said Cynthia Holmes, Dean, Ted Rogers School. “This gift supports our school’s strategic priorities to establish technology-related learning outcomes and encourage the exploration of alternative and innovative course delivery methods, and will expand on our ongoing efforts to equip our students with relevant software skills to better prepare them for roles in the industry.”

The Blue Yonder gift renewal has also expanded Ted Rogers School’s ability to engage more students, increasing the number of users and fulfilling the need to integrate Blue Yonder software into additional Retail Management courses.

Valuable hands-on experience

Currently embedded in the Visual Merchandising and Space Planning course (RMG452), the software allows students to gain hands-on experience in allocation, space planning, assortment optimization and floor planning—key skills used by top retailers like PepsiCo, Best Buy and Canadian Tire.

The School of Retail Management plans to expand its use, integrating the software into additional courses and enhancing the curriculum. This will help approximately 300 students each year graduate with a competitive edge, ready to take on roles as Category Analysts, Space Planning Specialists and others in the retail industry.

“This very generous gift from Blue Yonder allows the School of Retail Management to deliver industry relevant, leading edge and experiential education,” said Rudkowski.

“The Blue Yonder comprehensive suite of Category Management software is integrated into our curriculum and enables our students to become skilled at leveraging data-driven insights to optimize retail shelf space and enhance operational efficiency and profitability,” she explains. “Students get hands-on, technical learning experience using the space planning software to design visually appealing in-store displays, window and fixture designs, shopper-friendly shelf configurations and efficient and profitable product assortments and planograms.”

Dr. Vladimira Steffek teaches the RMG452 course, and says that “implementing the Blue Yonder space planning software in the classroom offers students a unique opportunity to experience real-world challenges through problem-based learning.”

Third-year Retail Management student Natalia Sulek had the opportunity to use the Blue Yonder software in class. "Before using Blue Yonder, merchandising strategy felt theoretical. The software gave me the chance to bring those strategies to life and truly understand how they work in practice,” she explains. “It’s one thing to study space planning in a textbook, but another to bring it to life through industry software."