We pride ourselves on providing the American retail market with high-quality category management software and advisory services aimed at making in-store shopping an all-round better experience.
With customers such as Handy Mart, Hughes Supply, Lea Foods Inc, Polar Beverages and more, we’re making it possible for American retailers and suppliers to take their in-store experience to the next level.
We offer retailers across all formats a category management solution that enables them to use retail data to create data-driven product layouts, localised assortments and advanced retail analytics.
With our software and services, retailers can expect to create better shopping experiences for shoppers, improve stock turnover and profitability and enhance their overall business performance.
We offer suppliers a comprehensive mix of category management software, training, support and professional services to empower them to help retailers grow their categories.
With our software and services, suppliers can improve the performance of the categories in which their products are merchandised and gain influence over shelf positioning and space allocations for their products.
We have a rich history that dates back to 1991. Today retail professionals use our software to create planograms in over 60 countries.
In 1991 we launched as an independent Category Management consultancy. John Dorfling and Anton Roux co-founded our company and called it CMS which stood for computerised merchandising services.
Nielsen acquired our services business and tied our co-founders into a four-year-long restraint of trade agreement. During this time they remained active in the retail industry.
John Dorfling and Anton Roux re-launched our company but this time with a new vision.
We were the first company to establish a formalised and collaborative category management process between a Retailer and Supplier.
During this pivotal and vital time in our history, a second prestigious retailer signed up as a customer.
Up until this point, we were purely a category management consultancy. In 2001 we became the first company to create a data-driven category management system. In 2001 we also renamed the company to DotActiv.
DotActiv Software Starts Winning
Andrew Dorfling was appointed Financial Director in August 2004 at which time he also became a shareholder.
In 2007 we launched the DotActiv Import utility to automate the flow of data into the DotActiv software. After that, we continued to expand the business and gain a foothold in the South African retail industry.
In 2009 Kyle Dorfling and Robert Stohr were appointed to the Board of Directors. Kyle later took over our international expansion as CMO while Robert took over operations as COO.
Andrew Dorfling, Robert Stohr and Kyle Dorfling acquired 100% ownership of DotActiv with Andrew being the majority shareholder. At this time Andrew became CEO.
With new leadership in place, it was time for us to double down on our investment into the DotActiv software.
In 2014 we released the assortment planning function of DotActiv to our users. We also launched our field marketing software to the market.
To reduce the barrier to entry and better reflect our new marketing vision we split DotActiv software into three editions: DotActiv Lite, Professional and Enterprise. In 2015 we began expanding our customer base outside of South Africa and quickly reached over 20 countries.
Clicks Group Limited went through a formal IT supplier evaluation process and rated DotActiv number 1 for all four quarters of 2017.
We launched DotActiv Academy to help our users learn how to make the most of their DotActiv Software. We also opened our online store and introduced the completely free version of DotActiv.
DotActiv's user base expands to over 60 countries with new users added every day.
We launched Activ8, which is team management software for retail. This powerful cloud-based software includes everything you need to manage your retail team, including task and project management, time and attendance software, expense and leave claims and more.
We relaunched DotActiv Academy to be more of a social community with category management learning at its core. We also opened it up, allowing anyone to join for free.
Available in 10 languages, the DotActiv PowerBase includes short and concise answers to everything you need to know about making the most of our products and services.
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We work with retailers both small and large and across multiple formats. Each has different goals, challenges and circumstances, which is why we cater for our customers on an individual basis.
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We help suppliers of all sizes to assist their retail customers to improve category performance and gain influence over the shelf positioning and space allocation for products.
We offer three different partner program models depending on your business. That includes agency, distribution and referral partner models.
Interested in the challenge that comes with working at DotActiv? If one of our positions looks interesting to you, please go ahead and apply.
Our board of directors are responsible for creating, developing and leading high-performance teams, strategies and products that deliver real results for retailers and suppliers.
CEO
Andrew is responsible for leading and setting the overall direction and strategy for the company.
CMO
Kyle is responsible for leading our marketing and sales strategies. His portfolio includes HR and contributing towards the overall growth strategy of the company.
COO
Robert leads our retail space planning operations and is responsible for our services accounts.
CIO
Jason heads up everything IT including product development, support, new site implementations and all IT initiatives.
Category Management Software
All-in-one Category Planning
Assortment Planning Software
Space Planning Software
Custom Reporting
Support Options
Helpful Resources
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