SAP to Demonstrate Leadership at National Retail Federation Convention

by Evan Welsh

NRF 2008 Highlights to Include Harrods Super Session, Executive Customer Roundtable, Introduction of New Head of Retail and Wholesale Industries at SAP and Product Demonstrations for Retailers of All Sizes

After another record-breaking year of continued leadership and commitment in delivering innovative solutions to retailers worldwide, SAP AG today announced its planned activities for the world's leading retail event, the National Retail Federation (NRF) 97th Annual Convention and Expo, being held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, NY, January 13-16.

SAP Customer Harrods to Host Super Session

On Monday, January 14, Harrods, a long-standing SAP customer, will host a Super Session on the topic, "Anything is Possible: How Harrods Understands, Anticipates and Inspires its Customers." For more than 155 years, Harrods has been a successful retailer that sells everything from postage stamps to airplanes. During this session, Harrods' chief information officer, David Llamas, will offer insight into how the legendary London department store transformed into a global, multi-channel brand. Participants will learn how Harrods leverages a single platform from SAP to enhance customer service, increase operational efficiency and take advantage of new multi-channel opportunities.

"With SAP, our overall IT efficiency has improved measurably," said David Llamas, chief information officer, Harrods. "As a percentage of sales, Harrods' IT spending is now 0.7 percent, whereas in other similar businesses it is closer to 2 to 3 percent. By consolidating our legacy applications onto a unique platform, we don't need teams maintaining those previous legacy applications, resulting in a less complex environment that is easier to support and develop."

Executive Roundtable to Feature Beall's, Harrods and Steve & Barry's

SAP will be hosting an executive customer roundtable on Tuesday, January 15. This invitation-only panel will offer press and analysts the opportunity to speak directly to SAP customers, including Beall's, Harrods and Steve & Barry's about their operations as well as how SAP is enabling them to be best-run retailers.

SAP Strengthens Retail Leadership With New Senior Vice President of Trading

At NRF, SAP will introduce Verlin Youd, the newly appointed senior vice president of Trading Industries. In this position, Youd is responsible for the company's strategy, approach and execution for the retail and wholesale industries, and has the primary focus of delivering value to customers. With more than 18 years of experience in the software and retail industry, Youd brings a strong track record of success in delivering value to retailers around the world. Prior to joining SAP, Youd was the vice president of industry solutions at Motorola, where he led strategy and plan execution across all target industries including retail and hospitality, transportation and logistics, wholesale distribution, manufacturing, energy and utilities, healthcare and field mobility.

"SAP is honored to continue our support of the National Retail Federation and join with our customers to share experiences and keys to success in a demanding retail environment," said Youd. "I am proud to be a part of a leading organization whose market leadership is communicated by industry experts and most importantly its customers, which truly demonstrates SAP's commitment to enable retailers to be best-run businesses."

SAP will showcase its solutions for fast-growing retailers in a large exposition booth (#1601) at NRF that will feature SAP(R) for Retail solutions for point-of-sale, demand management, in-store and channel management, category and merchandise management, buying and vendor management, supply chain management and core operations. SAP will also demonstrate how its partner ecosystem creates compelling value for customers. Visitors to the SAP booth will be able to review SAP alliance solutions and services from CIBER, Data Business Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, SEAL Consulting and UCS Solutions.