SAP provides access to more than 500 consultants dedicated specifically to the retail industry possessing the depth and knowledge of this industry. In India, SAP’s clientele are Pantaloons Retail (Future Group), Reliance Retail, Trent Ltd, Infiniti Retail Ltd (Croma), Spencers Retail Ltd and many others besides global clients, such as: 7 Eleven, Target, The Home Depot, Carrefour, ESPIRIT, Nike, etc.
CASE STUDY
Veeras Infotek Pvt. Ltd. set up its first IT retail outlet, IT@Home, in November 2005 in Chennai. In less than a year, the company opened another outlet in Chennai. These outlets offer desktops, notebooks, printers, TFTs, LCDs and all the accessories such as pen drives, webcams, external hard disks, headphones, gaming devices and DVDs/CDs. Sensing the huge opportunity for organised retail in India, the company plans an aggressive expansion, with 25 outlets all over India by 2015. At the same time, the management understood the importance of streamlining processes, improving operational efficiencies, enabling quick and efficient scale up of operations to gain a competitive edge. The company implemented SAP Business One solution to enable seamless scaling.
The problem
IT@Home had invested in a ReyMedi solution to automate its inventory and billing processes, and Tally software for its accounting process. However, while these solutions worked well initially, they did not support growth. Reymedi solution provides barcoding system, which Tally does not support. This made data capturing difficult and led to confusion as far as inventory tracking was concerned. In addition, keeping check on the movement of stock between its two stores was difficult. This critical lacuna in business intelligence was costing the company not only in terms of revenue but also market credibility.
Solution provided
In view of the above problems, the company thought it is prudent to change over to SAP Business One solution. The company selected SAP Business One based on reviews by other users. They realised Business One would be the ideal solution for a company of their maturity and needs. The favourable total cost of ownership was also one factor. “The design and cost-effectiveness of the Business One solution were the main reasons for implementing it at IT@Home”, comments Kanti Memani, Business Head, IT@Home. The implementation partner, Veeras, took care of the complete implementation, hardware and system integration.
Swift implementation
The total implementation process took two and half months. One reason for quick implementation was that the company had already started creating databases from the middle of 2007. The system was launched on April 1st 2008. With four user licenses, the system is fully operational at the company.
Better inventory tracking and business wisdom
The implementation addresses the main challenges that the company faced, the critical area of control and knowledge of inventory status and movement. With the new system, the company can efficiently keep track of stocks, and properly utilise the benefits of barcoding, and the first-in first-out option for smooth business processing. Now, the company has complete information about the status and movement of stocks. The system also provides better business insights.
There would be more emphasis on supplier - retailer collaboration from understanding consumer preferences to designing consumer offers to grow specific product segments. Customer loyalty is also expected to draw the attention of retailers over a period of time, in a much more focused manner. Retailers would work on innovative ways to retain customers - from basic loyalty programs to even ‘precision retailing’, tailoring offers and marketing communications based on individual preferences.
Atul Bhandari, Vice President, Value Engineering & Industries, SAP India
SAP provides great business intelligence and minimises operational errors.
Kanti Memani, Business Head-Retail Solutions, IT@Home
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