SAP Celebrates Retailers' Success as Scores of Stores Go Live

by Evan Welsh

HMSHost, Jones Apparel, Wawa and Zappos Join More Than 500 Retailers That Implemented SAP Solutions in 2007

SAP Ranked as the Leading IT Vendor for Retail

Demonstrating ongoing leadership in providing innovative solutions to retailers worldwide, SAP AG today announced increasing momentum for SAP solutions in the retail industry as evidenced by newly released data for customers that have recently implemented SAP(R) for Retail solutions. More than 500 customers went live with SAP solutions in 2007, solidifying SAP's reputation as the preeminent solution provider among retailers. The announcement was made at the National Retail Federation (NRF) 97th Annual Convention and Expo, being held in New York, NY, January 13-16.

Global retailers that implemented SAP solutions, as well as retailers that have increased their investment with SAP in 2007 include: Beall's, Inc., The Bon Ton Stores, Inc., Chico's Retail Services, Inc., Family Dollar Stores, Inc., HMSHost, Jo-Ann Stores, Inc., Jones Apparel Group, Inc., Kenneth Cole Productions, Lifetime Brands, Metro Inc., Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, Red Door Spas, Sobeys Inc., The Beer Store, Vera Bradley Designs, Wawa, Inc. and Zappos.

In addition to an impressive number of go-lives, the prestigious LeaderBoard report published yearly by Retail Information Systems (RIS) magazine ranked SAP as the leading IT vendor for retail in 2007. The LeaderBoard report lists the top 45 vendors that provide software to retailers globally. SAP was selected based on the quality of its technology and overall customer satisfaction.

HMSHost Takes Off With SAP for Retail

HMSHost, a leader in creating customized shopping experience in travel venues throughout North America, went live in 2007 with SAP solutions in 35 stores and 11 warehouses. The rollout will continue throughout 2008 in additional locations, including HMSHost's travel plaza operations. The end-to-end retail solution portfolio customized for HMSHost includes enterprise resource planning (ERP), business warehouse and point-of-sale data management solutions from SAP. SAP(R) Hosting and SAP(R) Services made the installation a success, which was delivered on time and on budget.

Jones Apparel Group Implements SAP Solutions as Part of its Strategic Initiative

Jones Apparel Group, Inc., a leader in the apparel and footwear industry with well-known brands such as Nine West, Jones New York, Anne Klein and Gloria Vanderbilt, has implemented SAP(R) ERP to consolidate a multi-systems infrastructure to a single system environment to streamline operations, reduce cost and improve operational efficiencies. The $4.0 billion wholesaler and retailer is using SAP solutions in its apparel operations.

"We had a goal of streamlining operations, improving our speed to market and enhancing our operational flexibility," said Norm Veit, executive vice president, MIS, Jones Apparel Group. "We knew this would be very difficult with our disparate systems in place at the time. Moving our apparel operations to a common systems platform utilizing the industry-leading apparel and footwear solution from SAP was a strategic enabler toward attaining this goal."

Wawa Takes Flight with SAP

The leading mid-Atlantic U.S. convenience retailer with more than 570 store locations went live with SAP for Retail solutions and now has integrated core operations between its storefront and corporate back-office. With SAP solutions, Wawa runs industry-specific business processes for store-level forecasting and replenishment and merchandise planning, while better managing point-of-sale data, procurement processes and back-office operations.

"This important milestone signifies Wawa's ongoing transformation to upgrade our IT systems to the latest technology and to position our business for continued growth," said Neil McCarthy, CIO, Wawa, Inc. "SAP's reputation for leading industry solutions and commitment to the retail industry is evident in the fact that our implementation was finished on time, on budget, and we have already seen efficiency gains."

Zappos On-Line With SAP

As an innovative online store, Zappos is a fast-growing company continually looking for new opportunities to provide the best products and services to its customers and employees. Zappos selected SAP solutions to support its explosive growth. Since the successful implementation of the SAP(R) ERP Financials solution, the retailer has used its new tools to improve controls around the purchase-to-pay cycle. Zappos is also using the SAP(R) Merchandise and Assortment Planning application to provide better visibility into open-to-buy inventory.

A recent report by Forrester Research states, "Hampered by inflexible systems that are highly customized or homegrown, retailers have had little opportunity to bring merchandising processes or technology into the modern age. But smart retailers are now shifting toward consumer-centric merchandising to drive merchandising decisions from market segmentation insights. Retailers don't need a big-bang replacement to keep up, but they do need to prioritize modular solutions within an overall process strategy. (1)"

"The impressive list of customers that have gone live represents a growing trend in the retail industry, where innovation is given a significantly higher priority in their operating disciplines," said Verlin Youd, senior vice president, Trading Industries, SAP AG. "By selecting the leading provider of retail solutions, these retailers are in a position to ensure that new market opportunities are seized, crucial customer insights are noted and better business results are attained."