With stores spread across multiple geographies and complex operations, large enterprise retailers require robust systems to manage their financials and business processes. An integrated solution provides a single view of the entire retail process, right from merchandise to customer loyalty. With SAP IS-Retail (Industry Solution Retail) and iVend Retail, retailers can come to decisions based on real-time data, and act on it within one integrated system. The entire landscape is designed to utilize the best practices inbuilt in the IS-Retail for Head Office processes and extend them via iVend Retail across the entire retail ecosystem.
iVend Retail with SAP IS-Retail (Industry Solution Retail) on top of SAP ERP (also called SAP ECC 6.0) provides retailers with a flexible solution to keep their operations streamlined and agile, with the ability to respond quickly to the constantly changing retail atmosphere.
iVend Retail integrated with SAP IS-Retail creates a technical landscape designed to utilize the best practices in SAP IS-Retail for Head Office processes and extend them across the retail ecosystem via iVend Retail.
iVend Retail is configured with SAP IS-Retail ERP at a central location, typically the Head Office. The rest of the retail operation connects to iVend Enterprise over the Internet and is designed so that even if Internet connectivity between the store and the Head Office is lost, the stores can carry on operations without losing data given the selective replication of data across all stores. Retail data collected and collated at the Head Office is then integrated into SAP ERP in one of two ways, either via an SAP PI Server connecting directly to SAP Retail or via the SAP PI server connecting to SAP ERP with SAP BI / POS DM.
The retail data which is collected and collated at the Head Office is then integrated into SAP ERP. There are 2 broad ways of integrating this data into SAP ERP:
With SAP PI Server connecting directly into SAP ERP
With SAP PI server connecting directly into SAP ERP along with SAP BI / POS DM
The decision to use either of the approaches depends on the nature of the retail business and also on the designated ERP environment. This decision is normally taken during the business blue printing stage.
Below are the Outbound and Inbound transactions from the SAP ERP system:
OUTBOUND DATA – from SAP ISR to iVend Retail
Masters |
|
|---|---|
| Countries and States | Currency and Exchange Rates |
| Employees | Tax Codes |
| Manufacturers | Product Groups & Discounts |
| Vendors | Brand |
| Stores | Articles, Assemblies, Kit, Gift Certificates |
| Upselling Information | Alternate Items |
| Pricing and tax | Quantity Discounts |
| Customer Groups & Customers | Shipment Types |
INBOUND DATA – from iVend Retail to SAP ISR
Transactions |
|
|---|---|
| Regular Sale | Store Expenses |
| Regular Sale with fulfillment | Store Requisitions |
| Sale with Delivery from DC | Stock Adjustments |
| Credit Sales | Good receipts |
| Advance booking | Returns to Warehouse |
| Refund and Exchange | Physical Inventory |
The iVend Retail & SAPIS-Retail Advantage
- Integrated merchandise management with sales reporting and related functionalities
- Synchronized supply-demand planning to reduce merchandise, avoid stock-outs and short supply
- Increase conversion rates across channels
- Satisfy dynamic consumer buying patterns
- Determine the right pricing and promotions to maximize profitability
The Omnichannel Advantage
SAP and iVend Retail help retailers give consumers a seamlessly personalized shopping experience, exactly when and where they want them, with omnichannel retail management.