The requirements that retail companies place on
software solutions are different to those of industrial companies. In
planning and distribution, in particular, these requirements differ strongly
from industrial companies, with their production-oriented objectives. For
this reason, SAP developed a special retail solution. You can use this
solution by setting up SAP ERP as SAP Retail. To do this, you need to
activate the SAP Retail business function set.
SAP Retail is a complete system that supports
competitive assortment strategies, variable sales technologies, and
corresponding site categories, as well as customer-oriented distribution
logistics in retail with consumer products.
Implementation Considerations
This documentation is aimed at consultants and
project members who want to find out more about the functional possibilities
of SAP Retail. This documentation does not contain any instructions for
installation or configuration.
This documentation is not a guideline for executing
Customizing activities. Use the SAP Implementation Guide (IMG) for this
purpose. You can find information about configuration in the SAP Solution
Manager.
Integration
Activating the SAP Retail business function set
enables you to use functions developed specifically for the retail sector.
These functions are described in this documentation. A significant
difference between the retail system and a manufacturing system is the use
of the article master as opposed to the material master.
The functions of the business function set SAP Retail, which was developed specifically for the retail sector, is at the heart of the SAP Retail system. It is partially based on the SAP components Materials Management (MM), Sales and Distribution (SD), Logistics – General (LO), and Logistics Execution (LE). It is also possible to set up connections to other systems, such as SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or SAP Customer Activity Repository.
The functions of the business function set SAP Retail, which was developed specifically for the retail sector, is at the heart of the SAP Retail system. It is partially based on the SAP components Materials Management (MM), Sales and Distribution (SD), Logistics – General (LO), and Logistics Execution (LE). It is also possible to set up connections to other systems, such as SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or SAP Customer Activity Repository.
Features
SAP Retail provides all the functions necessary for mapping your business processes in a retail company. This includes:
- Master Data: Master Data contains all important information about sites, vendors, customers, and articles including pricing and cycle control. The data is stored as master records in the system.
- Strategic Sales: Strategic Sales comprises a number of different functions that are normally used in the head office – for example, assortment management, seasonal merchandise, promotions, pricing, and price planning.
- Purchasing: The functions available in Purchasing support the daily operations involved in the procurement of merchandise and settlement with vendors. The purchasing functionality can be used both centrally in head office and locally in stores.
- Merchandise Logistics: In SAP Retail, Merchandise Logistics forms the link between Purchasing and Sales. It comprises areas such as: Merchandise Distribution, Goods Receipt, Logistics, Execution, Foreign Trade, Inventory, and Valuation.
- Sales: SAP Retail supports different forms of sales: An open POS interface is available for connecting retailing systems for cash registers and stores. SAP Retail provides a number of functions for managing stores, for example Store Order, Replenishment, and Assortment Planning. Customer Order Management, which is more relevant for wholesale, is also available.
- Distributed Data Processing: SAP Retail provides interfaces with which you can achieve distributed data processing (Distributed Data Processing, DDP).
- Data Warehousing: SAP NetWeaver BW is SAP’s data warehousing solution and was developed specifically to enable the optimal collection and analysis of all kinds of statistical data.
- Merchandise and Assortment Planning: The Merchandise and Assortment Planning component supports planning and reporting for all your business activities that involve assortments and merchandise. This enables you to plan on a value-basis and a quantity-basis.