Who Is ExchangeFrame?

By Matt Odom
Collectively, Predictix has over 100 work years of experience integrating the most complex

supply chain, inventory management, planning, forecasting, assortment and merchandising

systems on the planet. Some of the names on their client ...


We get this question a lot. As a general philosophy, we believe that it matters less about who we are, and more about the value of the solutions we provide to you, our customers. Nonetheless, it’s still a fair question and we have a great story to tell, so here you go.

ExchangeFrame is a joint venture between Predictix (www.predictix.com) and some of the principal founders of Trafik tradeshow (www.trafiktradeshow.com ), where Predictix is the majority partner in the JV. Our team is a hybrid of some of the brightest minds in retail software and experts from the apparel industry.

Predictix is a fast growing specialty consulting and software company that solves challenging retail science problems for the most elite retailers in the world. With consultants and engineers based in the US and UK, they have worked with retailers on 4 continents, including major grocery retailers, fashion retailers, electronics retailers and more. Collectively, Predictix has over 100 work years of experience integrating the most complex supply chain, inventory management, planning, forecasting, assortment and merchandising systems on the planet. Some of the names on their client list include Office Depot, Best Buy, Kroger, Walgreens, Oracle, Michaels, Hugo Boss, Perry Ellis and more.

The Predictix core of scientists and engineers includes world class talent and some of the very brightest minds in retail software. In fact, many of the engineers on staff were instrumental in designing a significant portion of the Retek Predictive Analytic Stack which was bought by Oracle Retail in 2005 for $630M.

In 2005, Dan Caplin (a co-founder of Trafik Tradeshow) and I were having dinner and trading stories about our respective businesses (at the time, I was working for as a manager at Accenture, on assignment at the Retek Solution Center). Dan said that in hosting tradeshows for the apparel industry, he observed that the nature of the apparel industry was (and still is) largely paper based, from the paper line sheets to the actual order form. Certainly there was an opportunity to help his customers do business better.

Why not digitize the whole interaction and transaction and in doing so, help all players operate more efficiently, create a common platform for all, and ultimately promote more profitable business across the greater apparel industry? While Dan and his colleagues at Trafik had plenty of industry knowledge, could supply subject matter expertise, and provide access to potential users, they simply didn’t have the experience building retail technology platforms.

Enter Predictix. In early 2006, after leaving Accenture / Oracle Retail, I joined Predictix as Director of Operations. Predictix was growing fast and interested in solving interesting retail problems, so I took the idea for ExchangeFrame to Molham Aref, one of the co-founders of Predictix, and an idea started to take shape quickly. After a number of dinner meetings, mad scribbling on napkins, and laying out a business plan – ExchangeFrame was born. Together, the team of veteran retail software experts at Predictix and the contemporary fashion industry experts from Trafik would take ExchangeFrame from being an idea on a napkin to a fully formed company and software service with an immediate goal:

Provide a collaborative, web-based wholesale ordering platform to the boutique and midsized retail community, including retailers, brands, showrooms and tradeshows.

To read more about the birth and launch of ExchangeFrame, you can read a blog entry I wrote on my personal blog called “The 300 Day Gestation of ExchangeFrame”.