How a Global Sportswear Company Improved Inventory Tracking with SAP S/4HANA® Cloud ERP
by Meyyappan Ramanathan Global COE Solutions and Delivery at Rizing
Managing inventory across multiple countries and channels is no easy task - especially with aging systems and disconnected processes. In this blog, Meyyappan Ramanathan, Global COE Solutions and Delivery at Rizing, shares how a leading European sportswear company overcame these challenges by implementing SAP S/4HANA Fashion Cloud ERP.
Originally featured in our webcast series Insights from the Field, this story explores how the brand improved inventory visibility, streamlined operations, and built a scalable omnichannel strategy across 26 countries.
This global retail brand was operating on an aging back-end IT system, which limited them from getting products to market faster or seeing inventory in real time. They wanted a new system with standard, modern architecture to let them run faster with increased operational transparency.
They implemented SAP S/4HANA Fashion Cloud ERP, focusing on the European direct-to consumer market, which included 95 stores, an e-commerce platform, and marketplaces in 26 countries. They also wanted to use SAP's improved analytics to help solve global supply chain issues.
Let's look at three different use cases that show how this client used SAP S/4HANA Fashion Cloud ERP to overcome their challenges, including:
- Integration: Difficulty implementing an omnichannel strategy due to multiple legacy systems in different regions and business channels.
- Lack of scalability: Multiple customized and disconnected systems couldn't support the company's growth.
- Time consumption: Basic functions were slow, increasing the total cost of ownership.
Customer Overview
Location: Europe | Line of Business: Sportswear
Rizing Solutions: Fashion Suite, Future Reference Solution, Managed Services
SAP Solutions: SAP S/4HANA for Fashion and Vertical Business, SAP Customer Activity Repository, SAP POS DTA, SAP PO, SAP BW/4HANA, SAP FIORI for Store Back-Office Operations
Use Case 01: Supporting a Legal Structure Spanning 26 Countries
THE BUSINESS PROBLEM
The legacy ERP system couldn't handle the complexity of the required corporate legal structure, which
included 26 countries, different tax jurisdictions, changing regulations, and varying compliance requirements
THE SOLUTION
SAP S/4HANA's standard functionality accommodated the required legal structure with minimal customization.
To support the necessary goods movement within this legal setup and meet the target operating model requirements, Rizing consultants developed an innovation called the "flash transfer process." This simplified the implementation with increased statutory and operational visibility.
Running a business in 26 countries meant they also needed seamless tax reporting. SAP S/4HANA was able to export the required data for statutory reporting. Despite the volume of entities and countries involved, Rizing consultants completed the work within a year.
Use Case 02: Improving Retail Inventory Tracking and Auditing
THE BUSINESS PROBLEM
The customer needed to track and audit inventory in real-time. Every so often, they would manually reconcile the ERP inventory with the actual store inventory, uncovering discrepancies between the two.
The lack of inventory visibility led to lost sales, lower customer satisfaction, and increased costs due to overstocking or understocking.
THE SOLUTION
Rizing recommended integrating SAP's FIORI applications for store operations with SAP S/4HANA for Fashion and adding SAP CAR's POSDTA application for sales auditing and posting. This enabled the near real-time inventory visibility the customer needed.
We then tackled another source of frustration by adding the ability to handle under and over-delivery by reviewing and approving inventory postings.
If the differences were due to a warehouse mismatch in shipping quantities, we automated the warehouse posting to adjust the warehouse stock accordingly. Having an accurate inventory eliminated discrepancies from under and over deliveries.
Use Case 03: Supporting real time inventory availability and back-order processing
THE BUSINESS PROBLEM
The global retail company identified three shortcomings in its legacy ERP system:
- Its limited ability to provide real-time availability checks and confirmations inconvenienced customers.
- Customers needed a faster and more accurate way to prioritize and reconfirm orders.
- It was causing errors and delays because it lacked an automated process for allocating stock to orders.
THE SOLUTION
By implementing SAP S/4HANA, the company could use the native Advanced Available-to-Promise (aATP) functionality to run availability checks, reconfirm, and complete all orders.
The enhanced inventory visibility enabled:
- Priority customers to receive their orders based on available stock
- Improved inventory turnover
- More timely deliveries
Rizing consultants also added a "cut-off calendar," which included a buying calendar. This allowed the customer to receive an aATP confirmation based on specific customer purchase schedules.
SAP S/4HANA's native supply assignment feature addressed the remaining issue of allowing the customer to allocate products to meet demand.
Overall, the SAP S/4HANA Fashion implementation by Rizing consultants provided the flexibility and sophistication necessary for a global company to manage and allocate its inventory to meet customer demands efficiently.
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