Trade

Wide-ranging industry expertise along the entire supply chain

We have underpinned our retail expertise in numerous digitalization projects. Our retail customers sell a wide variety of product ranges: These include technical materials for craftsmen and DIY enthusiasts, consumer goods, food, non-food and groceries. Regardless of whether our customers are looking for modern solutions tailored to their requirements at the point of sale, transparent warehouse management, reliable invoice control or an integrated solution for their purchasing or returns management:

Together, we will find the optimal IT solution – whether as part of a migration, new development or further development. We take all process requirements into account and also guarantee a high level of failure protection and the necessary IT security. This is ensured by the ISO27001-certified IT services of our sister company DATIS IT-Services GmbH.

Our IT experts also support you in all matters relating to the transformation of your IT landscapes and the modernization and harmonization of your retail IT.

Benefit from the large number of successfully completed IT projects in wholesale, retail and online retail

Here are some examples of IT projects that we have carried out on behalf of our retail customers. They demonstrate our wide-ranging industry expertise and our proven IT know-how. We support logistical processes and the management of relevant data. We work with and further develop customer-specific purchasing processes and support quality assurance.

Our experts have in-depth process and solution expertise along the entire supply chain. We work with you to find suitable solutions for your individual business processes. In our project database you will get to know our professional and IT experience in detail:

In order to provide important key figures and analyses for logistics planning, our IT experts have developed a solution for the data-driven analysis of logistics processes from scheduling to goods receipt, for example. We quickly transformed Excel-based data analyses, which were associated with a high level of manual effort and susceptibility to errors, into a modern web application with highly complex logic, easy-to-understand visualizations and evaluation options in the front end. With this automated individual solution, retail companies are able to optimize their logistics and transport processes and are thus well equipped for future requirements.

Find out more about this project in our project database: Project ID 6069

We also know what to do when it comes to optimizing and further developing warehouse management systems. Applications in a warehouse management system control the operational processes that are important in goods receipt, returns, goods issue, picking and inventory management.

Based on SpiraTeam, an integrated application lifecycle management (ALM) system from our solution partner Inflectra, we check and manage all processes in incoming and outgoing goods, thereby increasing the quality of processes. Integration tests can thus be established without great effort.

Find out more about this project in our project database: Project ID 5675

When it comes to fundamental analyses to ensure, further develop or optimize the operation of IT landscapes, we have the necessary methodological expertise. We support our retail customers with strategic planning, quality assurance and sophisticated business process management (BPM) with the aim of continuous process design and optimization of business processes.

Find out more about this project in our project database: Project ID 4278

In common ERP systems such as SAP, all purchasing processes from forecasting and ordering to supplier invoicing can be mapped digitally. Associated processes, such as payment requests, are controlled. Supplier contracts or inventory management as well as a comparison of supplier invoices with the stored purchase prices must also be managed by the system. Any corrections, cancellations, credit notes or additional claims can be made automatically in this way. This not only speeds up processes, but also improves supplier relationships thanks to well-maintained and up-to-date data in the supplier and article master. With our proven SAP expertise, we support our retail customers in customizing SAP standard solutions, establish automated workflows and ensure their maintenance and further development.

Find out more about this project in our project database: Project ID 5290

Stocktaking and the associated current status of goods availability are of particular importance in retail. As part of our test management, we use SpiraTeam’s test tools to document the quality assurance of inventories that our customers from the wholesale, retail and online retail sectors regularly carry out. SpiraTeam is a product of our long-standing partner Inflectra, which offers excellent tools for test management through to comprehensive application lifecycle management (ALM). These integration tests allow the results of inventories to be optimized across the board and also increase data quality. Retail companies thus achieve transparency about which items need to be prioritized or reordered at the POS.

Find out more about this project in our project database: Project ID 5115

As part of their returns management, retailers and suppliers plan, control and monitor their returns. They have to keep an eye on the flow of information, finances and goods. We develop individual IT solutions that enable suppliers to manage returns by assigning return numbers. Suppliers benefit from enormous time savings in the returns process and gain more transparency about the associated processes.

Find out more about this project in our project database: Project ID 2758

A good merchandise management system supports the smooth flow of goods through the plant. Warehouse management can use such a system to register and document all goods movements as well as input and output. Intelligent systems also support scheduling, for example. Our IT experts expand a central merchandise management system on behalf of customers so that a wide range of wholesalers, retailers and suppliers can access a standardized database. The expansion goes hand in hand with the optimization and standardization of sales planning. Centralization gives wholesalers, retailers and suppliers access to all contracts, which can be managed and structured in a uniform manner. This creates a solid basis for efficient billing of all centrally or decentrally recorded services such as deliveries, outbound deliveries or services. This leads to greater transparency and cost savings.

Find out more about this project in our project database: Project ID 4931

On behalf of a client, we programmed a special IT tool with which past advertising campaigns can be specifically evaluated and set in relation to the sales figures achieved. In a first step, a detailed business analysis was carried out and, based on the results, the development of the planning tool and its quality assurance were driven forward, taking into account various levels in the database context. Particularly in view of the fact that the number and prices of the items on offer vary greatly from region to region, the IT solution enables a differentiated analysis of individual promotions in terms of their turnover rate.

Find out more about this project in our project database: Project ID 5767

Traceability is playing an increasingly important role in modern and efficient procurement planning and requires comprehensive transparency. On this basis, we have developed a web-based IT tool in a customer project with which article and supplier data, conditions, transport routes, contract comparisons and supplier confirmations can be clearly recorded, displayed and maintained in comparison with the purchase prices. We also manage the interfaces to third-party systems and reports. This allows data from different sources to be bundled for a holistic view. Live support rounds off our services.

Find out more about this project in our project database: Project ID 5279

We deliver customized IT solutions and managed services for the retail sector

On the basis of our wide-ranging industry knowledge, coupled with in-depth solution expertise, we advise, design and implement integrated IT landscapes for our retail customers and, if required, also ensure their secure and highly available operation in the DATIS data center.

Our service provider makes IT infrastructures and managed services available to our retail customers as required. Private cloud solutions are very popular with retailers. Retail companies operate these either independently on their own IT systems or, on request, with high availability in the DATIS data centers, hosted in Germany. We also implement public cloud solutions that can be accessed via an Internet connection for our retail customers.

This so-called virtualization offers the advantage of distributed computing. With this approach, retail companies benefit from a high degree of control, security, flexibility and transparency. This is because they always have sovereignty over their data and are therefore geared towards consumption. Our services for Backup as a Service (BaaS) are also highly relevant. These are important for retail companies when it comes to outsourcing, restoring, recovering and disaster recovery of data. These IT services are of central importance for liability issues. Legally compliant data protection is a mandatory prerequisite when it comes to fulfilling insurance requirements.

Retail companies that use SAP should consider switching to SAP S/4HANA

We recommend that retail companies that use SAP to manage their processes should consider replacing their legacy systems as soon as possible. And not only because the data model of the new SAP Suite is much simpler. Far more important is the fact that many IT systems in warehouse management are often highly individualized or outdated. On the one hand, this means high costs for maintenance or, in the worst case, a lack of real-time data, especially as SAP has already announced the end of maintenance for its previous ERP suite by 2027.

With SAP S/4HANA, the Walldorf-based software manufacturer and one of our long-standing partners offers various warehouse management options as an integrated or separate IT solution. SAP Stock Room Management or SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) are powerful options from which retail companies can benefit in particular. In this context, there is a wide range of functionalities to choose from, as well as deployment options, i.e. how the SAP solution is operated – on premise, on cloud, embedded or decentralized. Different license models round off the portfolio.

In addition, our process experts analyze and document, for example, source codes of SAP systems in productive use such as SAP Retail, SAP F&R (Forecasting and Replenishment) and SAP PI/P, a middleware platform that we use to connect an SAP system with external systems, such as the connection of a web store. Which options are best suited to your company, evaluate our SAP experts in a tried and tested methodology individually in a personal selection process with you.

Working together to find the optimum solution, because we know how trade works

Our IT consultants are in constant contact with a large number of customers and experts at the most important trade fairs in the retail sector, such as EuroShop, the HDE Congress and the EHI Technology Days. In this way, we are always up to date and keep pace with the dynamic changes in the retail sector.

In addition, we have access to a strong partner network in the retail environment if required. We maintain this in the long term, so that we have already successfully realized many projects with our partners by pooling our expertise and covering even the most complex and constantly new project requirements.

Research our IT projects in the retail sector

An existing .NET application for decentralized order processing in an international retail group is to be further developed and stabilized. For this purpose, new interfaces to a tool for automatic order quantity …
An existing .NET application for decentralized order processing in an international retail group is to be further developed and stabilized. To this end, an existing WAWI interface is being redesigned and developed …
Conception and realisation of the cross-cutting topics as part of the S/4HANA Greenfield implementation. As part of the project, which is part of a large transformation programme, the customer's retail accounting is …
For the customer, the implementation of new wholesale dropshipping (non-stock goods) processing models is necessary in order to enable scaling of the retailer business and to achieve the highest possible level of …

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Marcus Rödiger

Retail sector manager

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