Felicia, a Multi-brand Chain of over 300 Pharmacies, Improves Assortment Performance with LEAFIO AI

Felicia, a multi-brand pharmacy group founded in 1997 and operating 337 pharmacies under several banners across Eastern Europe, has implemented LEAFIO Assortment Performance to replace manual, Excel-based assortment matrix management across roughly 15,000 active SKUs. 

The rollout, led by Felicia's commercial department and five category managers, moved from a pilot on selected categories and pharmacies to a full network scale-up. Early qualitative results include standardized, analytics-driven matrix decisions, faster SKU add/remove approvals, and clearer visibility into out-of-matrix stock, with quantified results to follow once Felicia completes its post-launch measurement period.

Area	Before LEAFIO AI	After LEAFIO Assortment Performance
Matrix management	Assortment matrices built and maintained manually in Excel by 5 category managers	Centralized, system-managed assortment matrix across the whole network
SKU add/remove	Request-driven: a pharmacy manager asks a category manager to activate a missing product	Analytics-driven SKU add/remove decisions, surfaced proactively
Out-of-matrix stock	Growing, hard to track; stock distributed unevenly between pharmacies	Tracked automatically; fill-rate and out-of-matrix reports available daily
Decision-making	Based on scattered data and manual checks, slow to react to demand shifts	Standardized, analytics-based faster matrix corrections with fewer manual approvals

Comparable LEAFIO Assortment Performance deployments show what this typically unlocks. For example, MasterZoo, a European retail chain with 200+ stores and 6,000+ SKUs, achieved 150% faster matrix updates, a 25% reduction in out-of-matrix items, and roughly 50% less manual labor in assortment operations after implementing LEAFIO Assortment Performance.

Felicia expects a similar trajectory as its own matrix runs at full scale: fuller, more consistent SKU coverage across all 337 pharmacies; fewer gaps between the approved matrix and what's actually on the shelf; and clearer category manager accountability network-wide. 

Founded in 1997, Felicia is a pharmacy group operating across Eastern Europe under three banners for a combined network of 337 locations and roughly 15,000 active SKUs. The company also runs its own distribution center, which supplies its pharmacy network and sells to external clients. Felicia's assortment spans prescription and over-the-counter medication, cosmetics, baby food, and pharmacy accessories.

What makes this project distinctive is scale and simultaneity: Felicia needed to synchronize assortment management and inventory management at the same time across a large, fast-changing pharmacy network, which meant the solution had to adapt to real operational processes quickly rather than run on a generic template.

The direct trigger for the project was the need to raise the efficiency of assortment management, cut excess stock, and improve product availability across the pharmacies. At Felicia's scale  (337 locations and roughly 15,000 SKUs) manual management could no longer support fast decisions or full control over the assortment situation.

Five category managers in the commercial department built and maintained assortment matrices in Excel, on top of an ERP, deciding by expert judgment which products belonged in which pharmacies.

The same product could be sold in part of the network and missing from other pharmacies, and vice versa. The matrix itself was split into an obligatory segment (must-stock per pharmacy) and an optional segment (format-dependent), which was difficult to maintain manually at scale.

If a customer asked for a product missing from a pharmacy's assortment, the pharmacy manager had to request activation from a category manager rather than the system surfacing the gap proactively.

Adding or removing SKUs wasn't always timely, and products increasingly ended up outside the approved matrix, with uneven distribution of stock between pharmacies.

Checking stock levels and product availability took significant manual effort; transparency into the real assortment situation was declining, and teams had to rely on scattered data, slowing the network's ability to react to demand shifts, particularly seasonal ones.

• Reduce out-of-matrix stock
• Raise the assortment matrix fill rate
• Improve product availability across pharmacies
• Improve the accuracy of assortment management
• Speed up category managers' day-to-day work and decisions
• Cut operational load through process automation

Felicia evaluated other options before choosing LEAFIO. The deciding factors were a combined approach to matrix management, analytics, and inventory management in one system; the ability to adapt to Felicia's specific business processes; and a practical understanding of pharmacy retail. Felicia also cited the implementation team's willingness to respond quickly and refine functionality for real business needs. The system was brought in as a full business-process management tool, not just an IT product.

Felicia implemented LEAFIO Assortment Performance to bring its assortment matrix, SKU decisions, and category analytics into a single system:

• Centralized matrix management replaces Excel, giving category managers structured control over which SKUs sit in the obligatory vs. optional segment for each pharmacy format.
• Automated fill-rate and out-of-matrix tracking replaces manual checks, giving the commercial team real-time visibility into where the actual assortment diverges from the approved matrix.
• Analytics-driven SKU add/remove decisions replace one-off, request-driven product activation.
• Two-way data exchange between the assortment matrix and inventory management keeps SKU, category, priority, and stock-level data synchronized, so the matrix and the shelf don't drift apart.
• A phased rollout—process analysis, data cleanup, a pilot on selected categories and pharmacies, adjustment, then full-network scale-up, followed by training—let Felicia validate the approach before committing to the whole chain.

The rollout involved category managers, the commercial department, logistics, IT, the operations function, and company leadership, working through regular meetings, process testing, and ongoing feedback. Data preparation and cleanup proved the most demanding stage. The brief specifically flags data quality as the main early obstacle, alongside adapting internal processes and habitual staff workflows and syncing timelines across departments. All of this was resolved step by step together with the LEAFIO AI implementation team.

Felicia found the internal process change harder than expected. Shifting how category managers work day-to-day took more effort than anticipated. Technical integration and setting up analytics reports, by contrast, went more smoothly than expected, thanks to close involvement from the LEAFIO team throughout.

“First and foremost, the visualization helps a great deal. It makes the data clear and easy to work with, which makes our day-to-day work more structured and efficient. We'd also highlight the daily recommendations. They're genuinely useful and help us make sound decisions, especially given dynamic demand and seasonal swings. We're very pleased with the implementation team: they're open to dialogue and quick to respond to any question or request. That level of engagement makes our processes much easier and feels like a genuine partnership. Overall, the tool and the team's support meaningfully lighten our workload and deliver real practical value.”
— Felicia Team

• Category managers work from a single, transparent matrix-management tool instead of Excel, cutting time spent on manual checks and approvals.
• Decisions on SKU addition/removal, redistribution between pharmacies, matrix correction, and category-efficiency reviews now happen faster, with fewer manual approval steps.
• Daily reports on SKU fill rate, out-of-matrix stock, matrix efficiency, product availability, category analysis, and stock control now drive operational and commercial decisions.
• Assortment management is more standardized and transparent: decisions are based on analytics rather than expert judgment alone, matrix control is stronger, and the network reacts faster to demand shifts.

Felicia's rollout follows a pattern common among pharmacy chains moving off spreadsheet-based assortment management: the heaviest lift is data cleanup and process change, not the software itself. With the matrix now centrally governed and out-of-matrix visibility in place, Felicia is positioned to convert that operational discipline into measurable stock and availability gains as its metrics mature.

Felicia's own advice to other retailers considering automation: treat it as a change in how the business is managed, not just a software rollout. Preparing processes and data in advance, and involving key teams early, makes a significant difference to the outcome.

Managing a fragmented assortment matrix across a large pharmacy or retail network? See how LEAFIO Assortment Performance can bring standardized, analytics-driven matrix management to your chain → Book a demo