Consultants helped the coffee and non-food specialist lay the groundwork for further omnichannel processes and optimizations through real-time inventory management in SAP CAR.
Hamburg, July 17, 2023
Consultants helped the coffee and non-food specialist lay the groundwork for further omnichannel processes and optimizations through real-time inventory management in SAP CAR.
Hamburg, July 17, 2023
By maintaining up-to-date inventory levels for all retail locations in the SAP system, Tchibo has laid an important foundation for new omnichannel processes and the further optimization of its business. This means customers can now see in the Tchibo online store which products are in stock at specific stores and distribution centers and have them set aside using Click & Reserve. Based on real-time inventory data, Tchibo is also continuing to optimize its business with forecast-based solutions for quantities, prices, and promotions.
Tchibo has implemented a unified inventory management system as part of a fundamental overhaul of its merchandise management system. In the spring of 2021, the coffee and non-food specialist completed the implementation of SAP S/4HANA after an 18-month project. The old SAP system was getting on in years and, due to numerous in-house customizations, had strayed significantly from the standard. The goal of the complete overhaul of the SAP landscape was to map as many processes as possible using SAP S/4HANA and SAP CAR—as closely as possible to the standard.
The Hamburg-based coffee specialists implemented the SAP Customer Activity Repository (SAP CAR) to provide a unified view of inventory across all sales locations. During the implementation of the solution, Tchibo received significant support from consultants at CAS AG. With great success: In just five months, the consultants cleared numerous hurdles and gave Tchibo a clear view of its inventory, thereby laying the foundation for further omnichannel processes.
“CAS AG is an excellent consulting firm for SAP CAR projects,” says Christoph Kastaun, IT Director at Tchibo, praising the Hamburg-based consultants, who have extensive experience with SAP projects in the retail sector and have already successfully completed many SAP CAR projects. In addition to the consultants’ industry expertise, their connections with SAP itself are particularly strong, which greatly benefits both the project and the process of feeding requirements back into the Walldorf-based company’s standard solutions. With the right consultants—such as those at CAS AG—on his team, Christoph Kastaun believes it is both practical and feasible to map even complex business processes within the standard SAP system.
In a first step, Tchibo, with the support of CAS AG, successfully implemented the centralized consolidation of all sales receipts from its stores in SAP CAR. In a subsequent step, the project partners implemented real-time inventory tracking for the online fulfillment centers—which also supply stores with Click & Collect merchandise—within the same system. The third step proved to be a challenge: With the help of CAS AG, Tchibo was also able to map the inventory of its more than 18,000 storage locations in retail outlets and bakeries in SAP CAR.
Thanks to inventory management in SAP CAR, customers in the Tchibo online store can now also see in which warehouses the items they want are available. The new real-time inventory data from the distribution centers also helps Tchibo optimize another important process: Using sales forecasts, the company is now able to optimize coffee inventory levels at the distribution centers even more effectively.
By maintaining up-to-date inventory levels for all retail locations in the SAP system, Tchibo has laid an important foundation for new omnichannel processes and the further optimization of its business. This means customers can now see in the Tchibo online store which products are in stock at specific stores and distribution centers and have them set aside using Click & Reserve. Based on real-time inventory data, Tchibo is also continuing to optimize its business with forecast-based solutions for quantities, prices, and promotions.
Tchibo has implemented a unified inventory management system as part of a fundamental overhaul of its merchandise management system. In the spring of 2021, the coffee and non-food specialist completed the implementation of SAP S/4HANA after an 18-month project. The old SAP system was getting on in years and, due to numerous in-house customizations, had strayed significantly from the standard. The goal of the complete overhaul of the SAP landscape was to map as many processes as possible using SAP S/4HANA and SAP CAR—as closely as possible to the standard.
The Hamburg-based coffee specialists implemented the SAP Customer Activity Repository (SAP CAR) to provide a unified view of inventory across all sales locations. During the implementation of the solution, Tchibo received significant support from consultants at CAS AG. With great success: In just five months, the consultants cleared numerous hurdles and gave Tchibo a clear view of its inventory, thereby laying the foundation for further omnichannel processes.
“CAS AG is an excellent consulting firm for SAP CAR projects,” says Christoph Kastaun, IT Director at Tchibo, praising the Hamburg-based consultants, who have extensive experience with SAP projects in the retail sector and have already successfully completed many SAP CAR projects. In addition to the consultants’ industry expertise, their connections with SAP itself are particularly strong, which greatly benefits both the project and the process of feeding requirements back into the Walldorf-based company’s standard solutions. With the right consultants—such as those at CAS AG—on his team, Christoph Kastaun believes it is both practical and feasible to map even complex business processes within the standard SAP system.
In a first step, Tchibo, with the support of CAS AG, successfully implemented the centralized consolidation of all sales receipts from its stores in SAP CAR. In a subsequent step, the project partners implemented real-time inventory tracking for the online fulfillment centers—which also supply stores with Click & Collect merchandise—within the same system. The third step proved to be a challenge: With the help of CAS AG, Tchibo was also able to map the inventory of its more than 18,000 storage locations in retail outlets and bakeries in SAP CAR.
Thanks to inventory management in SAP CAR, customers in the Tchibo online store can now also see in which warehouses the items they want are available. The new real-time inventory data from the warehouses also helps Tchibo optimize another important process: By using sales forecasts, the company is now able to optimize coffee inventory levels in the warehouses even more effectively.
