For The Retail Industry: Intelligent Enterprise
For The Retail Industry: Intelligent Enterprise
Consumers demanding new levels of value: With so much choice at their fingertips, consumers expect more than
ever before; ultra-convenience, flawless service and seamless experiences are now foundational to brand loyalty.
Leading brands have been raising the bar for years, and now consumers have come to expect these standards
everywhere.
Disruptive market entrants: New digital-first competitors and innovative business models continue to emerge.
Retailers must embrace disruption and vertical integration, as they are reshaping the traditional retail landscape.
Sustainability paradigm shift: The retail industry is under scrutiny from both consumers and regulators, as retail
companies are a major contributor to carbon emissions. At the same time, retailers are in a powerful position to
enforce sustainability principles across their supply base. Leaders are thinking about environmental and social
governance standards not as problems but as solutions to achieve more efficient and less wasteful practices that
safeguard their business’s license to operate.
Purpose-driven retail: The next generation of customers is looking for brands that align with their values, and they
are willing to “walk the talk.” Commitment to a purpose has become as important as a brand’s digital experience.
The future of retail is about thoughtful curation of products and brands that align with their mission and provide
for a trusted engagement.
Brakes, a B2B food delivery service and leading supplier to the food service sector in the United Kingdom, saw its business almost
cease overnight with COVID-19. Yet Brakes was able to pivot, adapt, and add value in a time of crisis.
It launched a new direct-to-consumer platform with SAP® Commerce Cloud solutions in just seven days.
Watch the video.
An example of how knowledge of customer sentiment helps increase loyalty is Berlin-based food-ordering platform Delivery Hero.
With each delivery, customers are asked to fill out a survey. Measuring customer experience has a direct business impact: the
company uses the data to constantly improve process, service, and offers.
Read the customer story.
Be customer centric across the value chain: Put the customer at the center of all decisions. Enable personalized
customer interactions with a curated experiences and hyper-local assortments of sustainable products.
Serve the “segment of one”: Personalize with purpose. Differentiate through value-added services Use modern digital
capabilities and intelligent technologies combined with real-time customer insights to meet unique customer needs and
preferences at scale.
Implement digital supply chains: Create circular supply chains from the suppliers to the consumers' homes and back.
Enable fast response to changes in demand and supply. Design out waste and optimize transportation.
Redefine stores: Reimagine the store as a place that underlines your customer value proposition by providing unique
shopping experiences and enabling ultra-convenient capabilities such as same-day delivery or curb-side pick-up.
Empower the store associates to enhance each customer’s visit with contextual customer profiles and connect the
digital and physical spaces to fulfill any customer request such as endless aisles or personalized recommendations.
Create new business models: Leverage platform scale and ecosystems to support vertically integrated business models
to expand revenue and differentiated offerings. Create sustainable outcomes and higher brand loyalty through
expansion of service offerings and continuous engagement with consumers.
▪ Segmented offers and ▪ Leverage context and cohort data to ▪ Personalized experience of brand
SEGMENT
▪ Digitalized supply chain from ▪ Source-to-consumer delivery to the ▪ Circular economy processes
manufacturer to consumer for place of need with connected homes with principles of sustainable
SUPPLY CHAIN
better tracking and tracing and smart products procurement and production
DIGITAL
▪ Flexible omnichannel delivery and ▪ End-to-end carbon emission tracking such as recycling, reuse, repair,
fulfillment options ▪ Fulfill from anywhere, return from reselling, and more
anywhere leveraging global inventory, ▪ Holistic omnichannel order
dynamic sourcing, and last-mile delivery
management and fulfillment with
distributed order processing
▪ Front line of store empowered with ▪ Sensor-based identification, store ▪ Experiential retail with highly
REDEFINED
STORES
smart apps and real-time insights to interaction, and checkout personalized experiences
better serve customers ▪ Omnichannel store fulfillment ▪ Ultraconvenient and frictionless
▪ Omnichannel sales processes ▪ Unified digital and physical shopping powered by store
experiences automation and AI
▪ Extending business into new offerings ▪ Extended value chain to point of ▪ Cross-industry process operability
BUSINESS
MODELS
and market categories consumption for instant feedback and ▪ Extension of offerings to address
NEW
▪ Planning for promotions and ▪ Real-time unified customer profile to ▪ Leverage real-time omni-channel data
support personalized commerce and insights in seamless personalized
SEGMENT
▪ Omnichannel order product click-and-collect functionality ▪ Task-driven in-store fulfillment with last-
availability and dynamic sourcing mile delivery and intelligent returns
optimization, reducing waste and
triggering a circular economy
▪ Set of online applications to run ▪ Leverage digitally captured, non- ▪ Fully automated store operations
REDEFINED
STORES
store merchandising and inventory transactional, real-world data and with cloud-based platform
management based on real-time consumer sentiment to optimize the ▪ Unified intelligent mobile application
data from ERP and point of sale store experience and operation. empowering store associates to manage
▪ Enable store associates with mobile ▪ Contactless shopping capabilities, à la daily task and support personalized and
tools to serve customer “grab and go” on-brand interactions with customers
▪ Subscription models ▪ Harmonized data models and objects ▪ Fulfilment & Logistics that enable circular
BUSINESS
MODELS
▪ Extension of product offerings with across industries and smart material lifecycles
NEW
value-adding services from other management of attributes ▪ Consumer tools for re-listing previously
industries ▪ Software-as-a-service offering for retail bought items.
▪ Revenue-share model for retailer and
insights on shadow demand
Industry Cloud
Intelligent enterprises strike the balance between optimizing their current
business models and innovating at the vertical edge to develop new revenue
streams and growth potential using digital technologies. SAP and its partners are
offering industry cloud solutions that extend the end-to-end processes of SAP’s
intelligent suite to help drive customers’ core business in their industries.
CURRENT PRACTICE
From planning in siloed departments using stand-alone, best-of-breed applications and backward analysis …
NEXT PRACTICE
. . . to being first to serve tomorrow’s demand using predictive insights and intelligence in an integrated planning suite
on one common platform
Allocation planning
▪ Push of seasonal and promotional products to the store based on assortment and promotion plan
▪ Optimized allocation based on current demand and available stock, KPI targets, and store capacity
▪ In-season refill and end-of-season cross-product allocation
Beeline Gets Ahead of Fashion Trends with Better Understanding of Customers and
Market
Beeline GmbH started out as a wholesale jeweler almost 30 years ago and grew into a global business,
now selling its brands through concession partners and its own stores worldwide, with over 100 million
individual items sold per year.
Beeline replaced highly manual operations and achieved better tracking of sales along with
accurate planning of future demand. Integrated, end-to-end process management, real-time insight
into customer activities, omnichannel planning content, and powerful analytics with the SAP Analytics
Cloud solution are elements of Beeline’s digital transformation, which allows the company to be first to
market with the trending products its customers are looking for.
Read the customer story.
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Intelligent demand data Unified demand forecasting Merchandise and assortment Allocation planning
foundation ▪ Intelligent forecast modeling planning ▪ Smart allocation based on
▪ Orders across channels as a ▪ Cockpit to manage forecasting ▪ Omnichannel planning – retail results of assortment or
common base for omnichannel exceptions and wholesale promotion plans
demand planning along with ▪ Optimized option planning ▪ Initial push followed by
▪ Intelligent services to
transactional data demand-driven in-season refill
determine similar products for ▪ Intelligent store clustering
▪ Embedded intelligence to reference and use in relevant ▪ Cross-product allocation for
▪ External data for product
detect errors in integration or applications (assortment end-of-season distribution
ranking
identify similar products for planning, replenishment
referencing ▪ Flexible planning hierarchies
planning) and business rule framework
▪ Determination of
▪ Closed-loop to shelf-
cannibalization effects
optimization tools
The architecture of the Intelligent Enterprise for retail companies – a combination of SAP and partner solutions for new
business outcomes
The Emarsys Omnichannel Customer Engagement Platform SAP Customer Order Sourcing centralizes availability
enables you to deliver the predictable, profitable outcomes information for all of your vendors, distribution centers,
that your business demands and the highly personalized fulfillment locations, retail partners, and stores. So whether
omnichannel experiences that your customers deserve. ordering online, calling in, or using a mobile app, consumers
Accelerate business outcomes with proven, retail engagement can instantly see what is available and when it can be
strategies — crowdsourced from leading brands. delivered to their home or local store.
The business-user-friendly strategy builder allows
employees to establish a smart, cost-effective sourcing
strategy that directly supports your business goals 7
CURRENT PRACTICE
From catering to customer segments with reactive offers and limited personalization . .
NEXT PRACTICE
. . . to serving the segment of one with individualized offerings and services based on real-time data-driven customer
insights.
▪ Customer visits Web site to look up information and products
▪ Identification and creation of initial visitor profile
Personal outcome:
“Better skin” Capturing and collecting
▪ In-store production of
serialized skin-care products Customization Context customer data to create
based on individual personalized skin-care offer:
customer ▪ Environmental data (air
data with personalized quality, weather, UV index,
ingredient mix location) based on AI
▪ Refillable packaging to avoid
Personalization ▪ Personal preferences,
plastic waste calendar, shopping history
▪ Omnichannel delivery ▪ Skin analysis using picture
▪ Personalized recommendations and offers based on contextual
options recognition
data in the moment
▪ Offer to join loyalty program and earn points for social activities
and referring friends
The architecture of the Intelligent Enterprise for retail companies – a combination of SAP and partner solutions for new
business outcomes
SAP Customer
Experience for SAP Customer Order
Commerce, Customer Sourcing for
data, marketing and omnichannel order
loyalty management orchestration
SAP Customer Data Platform for secure customer data management and loyalty
Customer Loyalty Cloud by Social Annex guides customer FINDMINE's technology serves apparel brands, women’s
behavior by offering rewards for a variety of actions wear retailers, and high-fashion leaders with its “complete-
including purchasing, referring friends, writing reviews, the-look” capability. FINDMINE for SAP Commerce Cloud uses
sharing pictures, signing up for newsletters, and more. By predictive intelligence to show shoppers how to use each
rewarding customers, loyalty programs help brands increase product across e-commerce, e-mail, marketing channels, and
retention rates, drive more repeat purchases, and boost in the store.
lifetime value. 9
BEST PRACTICE
From operational lean logistics processes for material flows that were focused on cost-efficiency . . .
NEXT PRACTICE
. . . to a resilient supply network that quickly and efficiently delivers what customers want where and when they want it
while minimizing the sustainability impact.
The architecture of the Intelligent Enterprise for retail companies – a combination of SAP and partner solutions for new
business outcomes
parcelLab connects online retailers with their customers to Manage & Optimize Excess Inventory by INTURN helps manage
help them deliver the best possible shopping experience. slow-moving or excess inventory. By streamlining workflows, the
With real-time monitoring of every single order, parcelLab platform empowers brands to reduce inefficiencies and improve
helps identify relevant events for the customer and enables product margins – all while ensuring channel protection.
personal, individual, and emotional customer communication
– supported by machine learning.
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Store experience
Store performance ▪ Smart mirrors, interactive augmented reality (AR) and
virtual reality (VR) kiosks
▪ Comprehensive, real-time insights into all ▪ Interactive digital signage and in-store navigation
areas of the store business provided through services
role-based dashboards ▪ Frictionless checkout
▪ Employee learning ▪ Scan-and-go shopping concepts
Digitalized store ▪ Product training
The architecture of the Intelligent Enterprise for retail companies – a combination of SAP and partner solutions for new
business outcomes
SAP Customer KIT – Keytree
Experience for real- In-Store Technology
time customer for clientelling
profiles and Shelf optimizer for
commerce anywhere. SAP Analytics for
SAP S/4HANA better assortments
for in-store and offers
merchandise Across all functions SAP Dynamic Pricing
management by GK
and inventory for optimized
applications markdowns and
SAP Customer Activity real-time pricing
Repository –
a real-time
foundation for SAP Customer Order
omnichannel Sourcing for
orchestration omnichannel order
orchestration
SAP Dynamic Pricing by GK allows retailers to streamline pricing The KIT Solution by Keytree helps bridge the experience gap
for more intelligent, efficient, and successful pricing strategies between digital and physical stores by empowering store
and outcomes by enabling analysis and price-setting automation associates with a mobile application that surfaces all relevant
consistently across sales channels. The application provides an customer and product data from SAP and non-SAP back-end
efficient, next-generation approach to pricing with a cloud processes and services needed to provide a meaningful
deployment to speed up pricing processes and reduce the need customer experience and drive sales through up-selling and
for human intervention – while fostering aligned processes and cross-selling.
improved consistency across channels and locations.
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CURRENT PRACTICE
From verticalizing business models in a single industry context . . .
NEXT PRACTICE
. . . to addressing consumers’ personal outcomes holistically, leveraging platform scale with new customer offers across
industry boundaries
▪ Nutrition recommendations
Health ▪ Education and training
▪ Medical treatments
▪ Dog trainer
Services ▪ Dog walker
▪ Mating and adoption services
▪ Tracking services
Vertically integrated Customer Experience Platform and cloud strategy Data intelligence Business networks
value chain ▪ Headless commerce ▪ Software as a service ▪ Big Data analytics ▪ Supplier
▪ Several industry verticals ▪ Customer data ▪ Ecosystems of a certified and machine learning and spend
on one core platform cloud platform for data-driven management
▪ Harmonized data models ▪ AI-driven marketing transformation ▪ Networks for travel
▪ Cloud appliance libraries
across industries engagement at scale ▪ Cloud-based forecast with
▪ Virtualization and
▪ Global master data ▪ Marketplace and optimization SAP Concur®
scalability
services Management services solutions
▪ Integration
▪ Interoperable business
▪ Cloud service solutions for
processes
agile innovation
The architecture of the Intelligent Enterprise for retail companies – a combination of SAP and partner solutions for new
business outcomes
SAP S/4HANA is a future-ready ERP system with SAP Commerce Marketplace Management by Mirakl enables
built-in intelligent technologies, including AI, machine organizations to build, launch, and run their own online
learning, and advanced analytics. It transforms business marketplace. With the application, companies can initiate and
processes with intelligent automation and runs on SAP increase their online product and services offerings with
HANA® – a market-leading in-memory database that offers frictionless buying experiences through third-party channel
real-time processing speeds and partners.
a dramatically simplified data model.
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BUSINESS NETWORK
BUSINESS PROCESS
ACROSS ALL FUNCTIONS
INDUSTRY CLOUD
Partner Solutions
APPLICATIONS INTELLIGENT
SUITE
SAP Solutions
SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT
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SAP is joined by our extensive partner ecosystem in delivering industry cloud solutions for retailers that unlock new
levels of efficiency, extend end-to-end business processes at the edge, and enable innovative business models.
SAP partners find a unique environment in our industry cloud, in which the data domains and business processes of the
intelligent suite and our business networks are readily accessible through open APIs.
This allows our partners to accelerate innovation by focusing on the differentiating business capabilities they want to
build and deliver to our joint retail customers.
This enables a spectrum of partnership and innovation models ranging from close co-innovation over identified white
spaces to completely open innovation spaces with free competition to drive customer value.
The innovation models are complemented by a set of commercialization models that are strongly correlated to the
value the solutions deliver to the business of our customers.
Freedom of choice is a key value, so customers can choose any partner or hyperscaler to deploy their industry cloud
solutions.
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RISE with SAP is a combination of modular services and solutions to enable the business and technology transformation
journey of our customers, picking them up where they are today and taking them where they want to go – at their own
pace.
B U S I N E S S T O O L S & N E T W O R K
P R O C E S S S E R V I C E S
I N T E L L I G E N C E
A P P L I C A T I O N S
P L A T F O R M
I N F R A S T R U C T U R E
Business process intelligence Tools and services SAP S/4HANA Cloud helps you keep your business agile and responsive.
benchmarks your process from SAP and our partners
The business network connects you to customers, partners, and
performance against your industry support the transformation
suppliers.
peers and recommends the areas journey.
where business redesign SAP Business Technology Platform and industry cloud solutions offer
will yield the best results. next practices and technologies for your business.
RISE with SAP enables organizations to avoid high up-front investment costs and focus on reduced TCO* and fast time to value,
with the flexibility they need. With RISE with SAP, it’s simple: there is one hand to shake, one offering to customize, and one
partner to manage operations, issue handling, and service-level agreements.
We look forward to joining our customers on their transformation journey into the future. Find more about RISE with SAP at
www.sap.com/RISE.
*RISE with SAP allows customers to realize the value of their investment sooner, with up to a 20% reduction in TCO over five years for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, as compared to a
traditional ERP deployment.
Source: TCO reductions and timelines are modeled estimates from interviewed company data taken from the following IDC studies: SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA TCO Study (Nov. 2020) and IDC SAP
S/4HANA Business Value Study (March 2020). Timelines and estimates are intended for illustrative purposes only, and SAP makes no guarantees as to actual results.
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SAP’s industry cloud opens the field for a new level of co-innovation with customers and partners, enabling next
practices and new business models that help our customers capture the new opportunities of the future.
Our open partner strategy gives our customers the choice of whom they work with to design the business models of the
future; whom they partner with to define and implement business processes for efficiency and growth; and whom they
trust with running their infrastructure.
There are many journeys retail companies can take into the digital economy to become intelligent enterprises. No
matter which they choose, our scalability, security, global reach, vibrant business networks, and business process
knowledge across retail and adjacent industries are success factors for our customers, our ecosystem, and SAP.
Engagement Model
SAP is a partner for the retail industry in the long run. We have established a co-innovation and collaboration model
with many of our customers that is based on mutual trust and long-standing, value-based relationships.
This is the foundation to chart the journey into the new world of client experience and outcomes, to capture the opportunities and
tackle the risks in the digital economy.
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