Mobility and E-commerce set the stage for Retailtainment
With e-commerce and mobility on the rise, retailers need to adjust their in-store strategy and customer experience. This blog outlines a few ways for retailers to do so. Jennifer Frank in Retail [Jan. 19, 2012 05:53 PM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

A hidden gem – SAP Loss Prevention Analytics for Retail
Introduction of Loss Prevention Analytics Oliver Grob in Analytics, Retail [Jan. 19, 2012 04:10 PM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

2012 Store Jeopardy (with apologies to Alex Trebek)
How can you innovate with new store systems while minimizing training costs and putting the power in the hands of your staff? Hear how SAP is helping retailers modernize their stores with mobility devices, real-time information, and instant insight into store performance. SAP4Retail in Mobile, Retail [Jan. 12, 2012 09:31 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Mobility for The Masses
Your shoppers are savvier. Your employees don't want to put down their smartphones during their shifts. Your corporate staff wants on-the-go analytics and views into KPIs on a multitude of smart device types. Did you know SAP has mobile solutions to address all these aspects, and more? SAP's mobility portfolio provides peace of mind for device management and information control, app development and deployment, and multitude of device support. Come talk to us to hear how. SAP4Retail in Business Solutions, Retail [Jan. 09, 2012 03:15 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

BYO(D): Not just for Happy Hour!
Bring Your Own Device is an interesting topic gaining interest and traction with many retailers. The ability for employees, store associates to use their own smartphones while on the job has obvious attractive cost implications, but how do you really put into practice all the controls needed, ensure your corporate data is secure, that personal apps are off-limits during shifts, etc? Come talk to SAP to learn how our mobility solutions can make BYOD a reality for your business. SAP4Retail in Business Solutions, Mobile, Retail [Jan. 08, 2012 07:53 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Retail Forecast: CLOUD-y with 90% chance of Increased Productivity
Likely you are considering deployment of various retail solutions via cloud-based technology. With all the buzz these days, you need to get the facts and really see if the dual benefits of greater business capabilities coupled with lower IT costs are attainable. SAP welcomes the opportunity to discuss, explore, and clear up your cloudiness related to this very topical issue. SAP4Retail in Human Capital Management, Retail [Jan. 08, 2012 07:32 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Retail 2012 - a Tug of War or Symbiosis: Corporate Growth and the Global Middle Class
The first of supposed three Chinese curses states “may you live in interesting times.” By nearly any measure we certainly appear to be doing just that. In this blog, Mohamed takes a look at some global trends revolving around the global middle class as this group is the core customer group for retailers. The dynamic interactions of social, economic, and political dimensions offer significant opportunities for those visionary companies and their leaders. Mohamed Amer in Business Solutions, Enterprise Social Systems, Retail, Social Media and Social Networks, Sustainability [Jan. 02, 2012 04:20 PM | 3 Comments | Permalink]

Why and Where Do We Shop?
SAP4Retail in Analytics, CRM, Retail [Dec. 26, 2011 10:18 AM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

An experiment of Android with HANA In-Memory Database
Simple android mobile chart application showing the aggregated results from HANA In Memory Database. Sudhir Verma in Analytics, Java Programming, Mobile, Retail [Dec. 22, 2011 08:49 AM | 2 Comments | Permalink]

Visit (insert retailer name here) for an Exceptional Customer Engagement Experience
Andrea France in CRM, Retail, Social Media and Social Networks [Dec. 13, 2011 10:15 AM | 4 Comments | Permalink]

In Search of Size L
SAP4Retail in Analytics, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Retail [Dec. 12, 2011 10:53 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Growing Your Analytic Maturity
Growing Analytic Maturity Advanced analytics is one of the few ways to bring order to, and generate value from, large amounts of transactional data. It assists in understanding your customer base, increases product profitability, and boosts store performance. However, keep in mind that problems with the quality, timeliness, and sheer volume of data can quickly stall even the most promising analytic projects. Previously, companies could only consume organizational data through standard, rigid reports, or cumbersome ad-hoc queries. Today, companies have greater access to this data utilizing the most advanced technology and science to examine data in extensive detail. Understand where your organization falls within the analytic maturity model and find out what you can do to improve your analytic prowess. Read the full article for details. Valerie Miller in Analytics, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Retail [Dec. 02, 2011 04:06 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

SAP CRM / Loyalty: The new “black”
SAP CRM Loyalty is new and game changing....great for Food and Drug Randy Evins in Retail [Dec. 01, 2011 10:52 AM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

National Retail Federation’s Big Show: An Event Unlike Any Other
The 101st NRF annual convention and expo will kick off next January in New York City. Retailers from all over the world will be in attendance after record sales during Black Sunday weekend and Cyber Monday and with hopes of continuing that momentum into NRF. In this blog, Mohamed covers the latest retail sales and consumer confidence measures and the challenges retailers must address for success as they face with the rise of the smart shopper and consumer. Mohamed Amer in Consumer Products, Mobile, Organizational Change Management, Retail, Wholesale Distribution [Nov. 29, 2011 05:13 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Enterprise Process Improvement: The Merchant is King.....
Enterprise process improvement: How can retailers make the changes that will improve the ENTIRE process and not just one area..... Randy Evins in Retail [Nov. 28, 2011 03:28 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

A Network Economy at the SAP Retail Forum
SAP4Retail in Analytics, Consumer Products, Data Integration and Quality Management, Retail [Nov. 09, 2011 11:21 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Moving Beyond Diapers and Beer: Retail Analytics Trends Today
This blog covers the top trends in analytics today and describes how they can benefit your retail organization. SAP4Retail in Analytics, CRM, Retail, Social Media and Social Networks [Oct. 28, 2011 05:09 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

SPED PIS/COFINS - IPI PAUTA
There’s a special scenario of taxes in Brazil called IPI PAUTA. In this scenario, from the Fiscal point of view, the materials should not have the rate declared in the file for SPED PIS/COFINS. Alexandre Carvalho in Business Process Expert, ERP, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Retail [Oct. 20, 2011 04:41 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Sold Out! SAP Retail Forum 2011
SAP Retail Forum 2011 brings the best and brightest in the Retail Industry together. Our them is Retail Without Boundaries today - pragmatic, insightful ways to knock down barriers, cross organizational boundaries, and grow retail and allied businesses into new markets and find new ways to grow. Colin Haig in Business Process Expert, Consumer Products, Public Sector, Retail, Wholesale Distribution [Oct. 17, 2011 08:47 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Diving into the Infinity Pool of the Retail Experience
As we prepare for this year's Retail Forum, a few thoughts on the endless possibilities Jon Wurfl in Retail [Sep. 29, 2011 07:09 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

RETAIL FUTURES: Other People’s Money (Part 2)
Following my first installment, let’s continue with another two strategies that will help retailers ensure their businesses not only survive, but thrive, in the digital retail era. And some closing words of wisdom from "the Liquidator". Gerry Yeo in Emerging Technologies, Mobile, Retail, Social Media and Social Networks [Sep. 19, 2011 04:16 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Complexity and Change: the Retail Industry’s DNA
Retail is all about the details of products, assortments, customers, competitors, and how these interact in millions of possible combination happening in retail simultaneously. The inherent pace of change in industry as a whole had led Jack Welch to pronounce “when the rate of change inside an institution becomes slower than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight.” We’ll take a look at how complexity and change play in retail. Mohamed Amer in Business Process Expert, Consumer Products, Organizational Change Management, Retail [Sep. 09, 2011 02:48 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

RETAIL FUTURES: Other People’s Money (Part 1)
"This company is dead... You know why? New technologies..." Today, the retail industry is undergoing rapid innovation, transformation and creative destruction driven by the digital revolution. In the continuously evolving digital retail landscape, how can retailers ensure that their brands and their businesses stay on top? Gerry Yeo in Emerging Technologies, Mobile, Retail, Social Media and Social Networks [Sep. 05, 2011 10:12 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Mobility, Giving Groceries a Fresh Makeover
The grocery industry is experiencing a technology makeover through mobility. SAP4Retail in Consumer Products, Mobile, Retail [Aug. 24, 2011 01:36 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

SAP mobile Apps for consumers
Ben talking about RecallGenie. A cool app from SAP which is designed for the consumer market and available for free on the Apple App Store. It is for moms keeping their kids safe. Benjamin Boeser in Beyond SAP, Consumer Products, In-Memory Business Data Management, Mobile, Retail [Aug. 17, 2011 02:29 AM | 2 Comments | Download Media | Permalink]

SAP's Load Build/Line Buying solution for Procurement Organizations
This blog discusses SAP's product offering for Load building / Line buying within Procurement and the industry best practices. Udit Shah in Retail, Wholesale Distribution [Aug. 17, 2011 01:36 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Optimization Support for Real-Time Price Negotiation
Help for Real-Time Price Negotiations Most business executives understand that pricing is a powerful lever that can be used to close deals and drive profitability. Unfortunately, however, knowing the importance of price optimization doesn’t make implementing best-in-class price management capabilities any easier. What banking, retail, and utility pricing mangers need is a better way to support local pricing decisions. They need advanced analytic tools can address the complexities of modeling multiple rates, fee structures, and customer scenarios, allowing them to identify and adjust the pricing parameters that will close more deals. Sricharan Poundarikapuram in Analytics, Banking, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Retail, Utilities Industry [Aug. 10, 2011 03:39 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

On the Horizon: RFID Unwired for Retail
RFID is traditionally viewed as a system for tracking parts or goods through the manufacturing process and supply chain. However, RFID, paired with SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure (AII), can also provide major benefits for merchandise in the final stages of its journey —when it is on the shelf of a brick-and-mortar retail store. SAP4Retail in Emerging Technologies, Mobile, Retail, RFID [Aug. 10, 2011 02:00 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

The Evolution of Analytical Customer Relationship Management
Analytical CRM has the potential to create unique competitive advantages and drive revenues for banks. Analytical CRM allows banks to leverage the value of transactional data to create deep customer insights. Learn how banks can utilize the full spectrum of the analytical CRM maturity scale – transaction-based segmentation, retention, cross-sell and up-sell, customer lifetime value, and campaign portfolio optimization – to generate the highest returns on marketing investments. Read the full article to see how Performance Insight and Optimization Services from SAP can help banks increase customer retention, campaign effectiveness, and profitability. Gerhard Held in Analytics, Banking, CRM, Insurance, Retail [Aug. 07, 2011 02:41 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

The Four P's in Retail Stores - People, Product, POS, Performance
SAP software solutions for retail stores cover four key areas: People, Product, Point of Sale (POS), and Performance. Learn how retailers can use SAP to schedule labor, stock the right product, ease the checkout, and monitor store sales KPIs in realtime. Colin Haig in Business Process Expert, Business Solutions, Consumer Products, Retail, Wholesale Distribution [Aug. 02, 2011 12:27 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

The 4 C’s of a Successful Mobile Strategy
According to the Pew Internet Project, over a third of American adults own a smartphone. Not only is this trend dramatically affecting the way we communicate, consume information and shop, but it is also rapidly changing the way we work. SAP4Retail in Mobile, Retail [Aug. 01, 2011 11:23 AM | 2 Comments | Permalink]

African Cashew Initiative Helps Small-Scale Farmers in Ghana through IT
The African Cashew Initiative (ACi) is a project aimed at helping small-scale cashew farmers in Ghana increase their productivity and income by offering training programs and materials. Learn how SAP Research is investigating how mobile business applications can support these farmers and their cooperative in bringing the cashew nuts to market. Jennifer O'Rourke in Beyond SAP, Business Process Management, Business Solutions, Retail, SAP Research [Jul. 29, 2011 03:46 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Benefit from SAP NetWeaver MDM global data synchronization - GDS 2.1
SAP NetWeaver MDM global data synchronization - release GDS 2.1 now generally available Markus Ganser in Consumer Products, ERP, Master Data Management (MDM), Retail [Jul. 26, 2011 08:02 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Workforce Optimization: Balancing Employee Supply and Customer Demand
Wait times. Labor costs. Customer satisfaction. When it comes to staffing, retailers have a difficult task – minimize labor costs while ensuring acceptable customer wait times at checkout. Managing employee “supply” while meeting customer “demand” at the register is a daily challenge – but one that is too often overlooked. To avoid long lines and unnecessary labor costs, you need extensive knowledge of your local workforce – its available skills, qualifications, and specialties – plus an understanding of local demand, seasonality, and other operational factors. Basic sales forecasts and associated labor cost percentages are not enough; smart and effective staffing requires understanding both the true local workforce and at-the-register demand. Read the full article to learn more about workforce optimization for retailers. Eric Blabac in Retail, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Analytics [Jul. 21, 2011 04:11 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Retail Loyalty Programs: Pain Killer or Vitamin?
Retailers need to look upon loyalty mananagement as both as a busiones stabilizer and a turbocharger for their businesses Jon Wurfl in Business Process Expert, CRM, Retail [Jul. 12, 2011 01:47 PM | 4 Comments | Permalink]

Don't Just Manage Your Trade Promotions — Optimize Them
Don't Just Manage Your Trade Promotions — Optimize Them New Solution Supports Sales and Marketing Teams in Consumer Industries Timo Wagenblatt in Analytics, Business Solutions, Consumer Products, CRM, Retail [Jul. 08, 2011 03:05 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Making The Case for Investing in Financial Excellence
Financial teams in retail struggle to secure investment to improve their own processes as capex is focused closer to the customer. At a recent event, SAP customers using BPC shared tangible examples of value delivered from these investments. Geoff Maxwell in Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence, Retail [Jul. 01, 2011 07:22 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Should SAP Plant/Site Customer/Vendor Number be same as the Plant/Site Number?
Should SAP Plant/Site Customer/Vendor Number be same as the Plant/Site Number? Harsha Yedla in ERP, Procurement and SRM, Retail [Jun. 23, 2011 09:55 AM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

Relax - the 1980's all over again - with Mobile Devices
It's the 1980's all over again except end users are deploying mobile handheld solutions instead of PC's. Workers are buying their own equipment and bringing it to work with them. Professionals in IT need to secure, control, and monitor the wild collection of BlackBerry, iPAD, iPOD, Android, Smartphones, PlayBooks and Tablets. Consumers are bringing them to work, and it's out of control. SAP Sybase Afaria to the rescue ! Whether it's in the office, the store, the warehouse, or on the road, user's want instant access to apps and information. Colin Haig in Mobile, Retail, Security, Software Support and Maintenance, Wholesale Distribution [Jun. 16, 2011 09:40 AM | 2 Comments | Permalink]

Lessons From Apple's Retail Stores: Innovation, Strategy, and Common Sense . . . They Don't Always Go Together
Innovation as a topic has sustained interest from business leaders, entrepreneurs, analysts, bloggers and academics for some time now. A company's strategy provides the meta-picture of how that organization will unlock innovation and deliver on promises to their stakeholders and community. Innovation comes in many sizes and shapes, from the grand "I"nnovation of revolutionary products and technology to small "i"nnovations that continue to enhance, improve, or extend existing products lines, services, and solutions. Today, we'll take a look at Apple's foray into retail. Mohamed Amer in Enterprise Social Systems, Mobile, Organizational Change Management, Retail [Jun. 10, 2011 03:44 PM | 2 Comments | Permalink]

EDI and Business Network Transformation Revisited
SAP Partners Hubwoo (Cloud Procurement) and Crossgate (managed EDI and e-invoicing) have formed an alliance to combine their business neworks. Both of these solutions are resold by SAP and their combined business networks potentially can have a big impact on SAP users involved in EDI and B2B data exchanges. Kevin Benedict in ERP, Procurement and SRM, Retail, SAP NetWeaver Platform, SAP Process Integration (PI) [Apr. 20, 2011 07:41 AM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

Collaborative replenishment process in Retail
The article deals with a BPM process where push-pull strategy is employed in predicting sales outlet demands by buyers. Buyers can collaborate with store managers in different locations, collect their individual store demands and employ this data along with demand forecast models to build a more efficient procurement process thus optimizing inventory levels. Bharathwaj Ragothaman in Business Process Expert, Business Process Management, Composition Environment (CE), Mobile, Retail [Apr. 17, 2011 11:04 AM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

Zappos.com uses SAP to improve Data Quality
Zappos.com chooses SAP BusinessObjects Data Services for Data Quality Process Improvements. Hear about how SAP partner Solutions Workforce helped Zappos.com create the ultimate customer experience using SAP BusinessObjects Data Services solution. Ryan Champlin in Consumer Products, Data Integration and Quality Management, Master Data Management (MDM), Retail [Mar. 31, 2011 12:57 AM | 2 Comments | Permalink]

Understanding the technical stuff in SAP APO gATP module
After working as an ABAPer for one of the emerging technolgies like SAP-APO(gATP) I felt I should share something with you all. Babu Kilari in ABAP, Procurement and SRM, ERP, Retail, CRM [Mar. 25, 2011 01:31 PM | 3 Comments | Permalink]

Promotion – A Core Thread being Woven Deeper into the Operational Fabric of Retail
SAP Promotions Planning and Execution Process across the Retailer's organization B Sholes in Retail [Mar. 01, 2011 08:20 PM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

Enhanced Material Search - Part 5: Major improvements in Enhancement Package 5
The Enhanced Material Search provides a great alternative to the classic material search in ERP Sales and Purchasing transactions, offering full text search capabilities for materials and supplier catalog products (without material number), plus on-the-fly Creation of new materials. In this 5th BPX article about the Enhanced Material Search with Creation I present great improvements and support of further transactions in Purchasing and Retail done in Enhancement Package 5, which is currently in RampUp. When I convinced you with the new features you can apply for rampup on https://service.sap.com/~form/sapnet?_SHORTKEY=01100035870000730505& Ingo Woesner in Enhancement Packages, Procurement and SRM, Retail, Search, Wholesale Distribution [Feb. 17, 2011 09:40 AM | 6 Comments | Permalink]

warehouse hardware; what to decide?
The availability of hardware solutions increased with a couple of numbers the last years. Most popular tool is the good old RF solution. The scanning solution give a certain security to the picking accuracy but there is more… Niels Blom in ERP, Mobile, Retail, Travel and Logistics Services [Jan. 31, 2011 02:14 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Promotional Planning Isn’t What It Used To Be; Thank Goodness!
How PMR 7.1 enables today's retailers to plan more profitable promotions, more efficiently. Denise Missonak in Retail [Jan. 19, 2011 11:53 AM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

SAP BusinessObjects Event Insight Update!
Latest update on SAP BusinessObjects Event Insight Laura Chu in Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, Retail [Jan. 18, 2011 02:50 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Goodbye Panic Room, Hello Wild Blue Yonder: What a Difference a Year Makes!
Retail sales this holiday season offer optimism going into 2011. The year 2010 might be called the year retailers discovered social media and the mobile shopper. Let's take a walk through the latest sales numbers for 2010, explore new reasons why the consumer continues to be at the heart of retail, and the opportunities ahead. Mohamed Amer in Emerging Technologies, Mobile, Retail, Analytics, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects) [Dec. 31, 2010 04:19 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]