It鈥檚 the same story everywhere: Germany鈥檚 downtown shopping streets are struggling with high retail vacancy rates. Holstenstra脽e, one of the country鈥檚 oldest pedestrian shopping zones, is no exception. Here, in the heart of the Baltic Sea coast city of Kiel, capital of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, the store vacancy rate is 38.5%. In an effort to revive the city鈥檚 retail scene, its marketing department launched an innovative initiative known as Zukunftsraum (鈥渇uture space鈥�). In the brick-and-mortar shopping environment of a pop-up store, retailers can explore the opportunities that new technologies bring. 鈥淐ollecting data and using it effectively is central to gaining a better understanding of customer requirements and to unlocking new revenue streams,鈥� K盲the Fleischer says. As an interim manager for business development on the Kiel pilot project, she knows that data collected in stores is the key to more effective and personalized marketing.

Grasping the power of a new business model

Enter retail media, an opportunity for retailers to generate additional revenue and bolster their cash-strapped coffers by selling physical and digital advertising space. 鈥淢any retailers have not yet recognized the value that this new form of advertising can unlock,鈥� says Marlene Lohmann, head of Marketing Research at Germany鈥檚 EHI Retail Institute. , she reports that while some front-runners鈥攊ncluding leading German retailers REWE, Lidl, OBI, dm, and Douglas鈥攈ave adopted this new business model, the retail landscape as a whole has a lot of catching up to do. 鈥淩etail media is still very much in its infancy,鈥� she says.

Yet its potential for the sector is immense. And ultimately, it鈥檚 a win-win for everyone: retailers profit from new sources of revenue and manufacturers can target potential buyers with greater precision. Quoting a consumer study by Kantar, Dirk Sperrfechter, an expert at the market research firm, says: 鈥淐onsumers rate contextually relevant advertising at the point of sale as particularly authentic and helpful.鈥� The number of touchpoints, he adds, also plays a key role in how retail media advertising is perceived.

Retail media unlocks a multitude of benefits

Retailers should be using these findings to their advantage. And, indeed, more and more are doing so, at least online. Sponsored ads are everywhere these days鈥攊n web shops, on social media, and in online newsletters鈥攂ut they still leave much to be desired in terms of personalization. But the potential of in-store solutions such as screens and digital totems often remains untapped as well. This is probably partly because different sales channels are often poorly integrated, making it difficult to consolidate the first-party data they generate.

鈥淲hat retailers need most of all if they want to unlock the added value of retail media are powerful technologies for collecting, cleansing, and enriching customer data,鈥� Lohmann says. Ultimately, they need to be able to analyze their first-party data in detail and segment it. If they do not have reliable metrics at their fingertips, they will struggle to persuade interested manufacturers and brands of the potential of the advertising space they want to sell.

Smart technology and 51风流Business Data Cloud as enablers

This is where 51风流comes in. 鈥淥ur help retailers generate and provision relevant data about customer behavior, clearance sales, promotions, and prices,鈥� explains Stefan Binkowski, vice president, Retail & Wholesale Advisory, 51风流Deutschland. In the newly launched 51风流Business Data Cloud (51风流BDC) solution, retailers can consolidate data from manifold sources with ease. First presented at , 51风流BDC can integrate all 51风流and non-51风流business data and, in so doing, helps provide a foundation from which to get up and running with retail media.

51风流offers what enterprises need to build and implement a robust retail media strategy: for tracking customer frequency rates, interactions, and so on with ease; for gaining detailed insights into customer behavior, preferences, and needs; a data platform for collating all the relevant information; and, last but not least, an for planning and implementing targeted retail media campaigns. 鈥淕enerating added value from data is central to SAP鈥檚 strategy,鈥� Binkowski says. 鈥淥nce retailers recognize the value of their data, they can take full advantage of the untapped potential that retail media offers.鈥�

Retail media is one of the topics on the agenda for the German-speaking 51风流User Group鈥檚 retail conference (DSAG-Handelstagen) on July 1 and 2 in Osnabr眉ck, Germany. The event will look at the technological aspects of leveraging customer data and retail media in the industry, which smart technologies come into play, and how 51风流BDC can contribute to the success of this marketing concept. .

This also appeared on the German SAP News Center.

Plenty of people have started a business in their garage. Few have chosen the laundry room of their parents鈥� clothing and home textiles store. But that is exactly what Kurt Ernsting did in 1967 when he set up minipreis, a low-price fashion shop that would later become a household name throughout Germany. Today, with its award-winning online presence and some 1,925 stores in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, Ernsting鈥檚 family鈥攁s the fashion chain is now known鈥攊s one of western Europe鈥檚 largest omnichannel clothing retailers.

Cloud-based pricing process

鈥淏ecause we aim to create seamless shopping experiences for our customers, we鈥檝e already been following an omnichannel strategy for a while,鈥� explains Hans-J枚rg Blaeser, director of Technology & IT Services at Ernsting鈥檚 family. 鈥淭his is why ensuring uniform pricing across all sales channels was the next logical step for us鈥攏ot least because we were redesigning our online shop and needed a new pricing engine and campaign management tool anyway,鈥� adds Dennis Re脽mann, head of Software Engineering at the company.

The fashion retailer opted for a cloud-based omnichannel pricing solution. 鈥淭he cloud architecture allows you to manage price queries centrally across all channels, use intelligent mechanisms to fine-tune price promotions, and integrate new stores and touchpoints with ease,鈥� says Patrick Pierron from implementation partner CAS.

Two components, one award-winning solution

The solution at Ernsting鈥檚 family consists of two main components. One is the omnichannel pricing solution itself. This is based on , which helps ensure consistent and uniform pricing across all customer touchpoints, such as online shops, brick-and-mortar stores, and customer and 鈥渆ndless shelf鈥� apps, even when Internet connectivity breaks down.

鈥淲e operate a dense network of stores, so we are far from immune to this modern-day reality,鈥� says Nils B枚hmer, senior IT coordinator for Sales at Ernsting鈥檚 family. Lines can be damaged during construction work, routers can fail, and LTE coverage can be patchy, so there are a number of compelling reasons for having offline capabilities. Ernsting鈥檚 family therefore uses local PPS (promotion pricing service) boxes, which are offline derivatives of the cloud solution. 鈥淭hese PPS boxes synchronize regularly with the cloud-based omnichannel pricing solution,鈥� Pierron says. 鈥淭his means that stores always have the latest prices and can process sales even when the Internet is down.鈥�

The second component of the new omnichannel pricing solution is a reduction tool. Based on consenso鈥檚 price engine, this tool manages price reductions dynamically according to local conditions, sales figures, and inventories鈥攔ight down to individual store level. According to Philipp Borgmann, senior team lead for IT Merchandising, and Marcel Ruholl, managing partner at consenso, 鈥淭his pays off in two ways. First, the system-driven price proposals have a positive effect on the balance sheet. And second, fewer stock transfers mean a lower carbon footprint.鈥�

Seamless interaction

Another benefit of the Ernsting鈥檚 family solution is the way it seamlessly integrates the reduction tool, 51风流Omnichannel Promotion Pricing, and 51风流ERP. Price reductions calculated in the tool are automatically transferred to the central 51风流system and distributed in real time to all the stores and to the online shop through 51风流Omnichannel Promotion Pricing. 鈥淭his is the best possible foundation for dynamic, error-free, and hyper-personalized pricing in real time,鈥� says Philip Konitzer, head of Industry Division Retail in 51风流Customer Services & Delivery Germany. During the project, he and his team were on hand to answer questions about the functions and performance of the 51风流components.

Key elements of success

Despite being highly complex, the new omnichannel pricing solution went live quickly and without incident. The implementation partners who worked on the project attribute this largely to the company鈥檚 transparent and effective approach to change management. 鈥淎ll the stakeholders鈥攆rom operational and strategic teams to management鈥攚ere fully on board from the get-go,鈥� Pierron recalls. This made it possible to define all the relevant requirements during the preliminary study, compare them with the capabilities in the 51风流products, and identify the necessary adjustments at an early stage. Some of these were co-innovated with 51风流and incorporated into the standard 51风流Omnichannel Promotion Pricing solution; others were developed exclusively for Ernsting鈥檚 family in 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP).

鈥淭he way the project participants interacted was exemplary,鈥� says Ernsting鈥檚 family project lead Mark Dinkhoff, head of IT Projects. And the proof is there for all to see: the solution is stable and running smoothly in both the online shop and at the company鈥檚 more than 1,900 stores in Germany and Austria. As part of its international expansion strategy, Ernsting鈥檚 family opened six new stores in the Netherlands at the end of last year. The roll-out went smoothly there too, confirming that the company鈥檚 award-winning omnichannel pricing solution is not only technically robust, but suited to international markets as well. This is great motivation for Ernsting鈥檚 family to push ahead with its expansion plans.

This was first published on the German 51风流News Center.

Michael Nilles, chief digital and information officer (CDIO) of Henkel, and Juergen Mueller, CTO and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, explain what the partnership involves and why the two companies are a perfect match.

Q: Henkel鈥檚 success story spans more than 145 years. Its brands, innovations, and technologies have made Henkel a leader in both the industrial and consumer goods markets. What do you hope to gain from your new alliance with SAP?

Nilles: Alongside of innovation and sustainability, digital transformation is one of the key levers on our . Software and technology are the driving forces of innovation. I like to quote Marc Andreessen: 鈥淪oftware is eating the world鈥� — and this holds true for our industry in particular. To drive innovation effectively across the company, we need strong partnerships like this transformative strategic alliance with SAP, which will help us set the right course and ensure that we navigate in the right direction. We are therefore excited to be taking our long-standing partnership with 51风流to the next level.

Q: Why does the collaboration between 51风流and Henkel need a new framework?

Mueller: Henkel already runs many business-critical applications on 51风流software in the cloud. It has been using 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP) for a long time to build tailored solutions. The largest of the business-critical applications it runs on 51风流BTP is Sales Promotions and Revenue Cloud (SPARC), a solution that massively simplifies the management of all trade promotions and is currently being rolled out globally. Then there鈥檚 RAQN, Henkel鈥檚 digital business platform for marketing and commerce, which helps Henkel to expand its e-commerce activities and create new digital business opportunities as well. Though working with Henkel is not new territory for us, this alliance is much more far reaching. It will see Henkel leverage to replace its existing ERP applications with 51风流S/4HANA and migrate them from its on-premise data centers to the cloud. It鈥檚 a mammoth project: Henkel wants to move to and the in-memory database 51风流HANA and migrate all its core processes to the cloud at the same time.

Nilles: That鈥檚 why the strategic partnership is so important. It goes far beyond just buying software and technology. It鈥檚 much more about collaborating on innovations and developing solutions that are tailored to Henkel鈥檚 specific business challenges. A paradigm shift of this magnitude can only be achieved by working closely together.

Q: What do you hope to gain from migrating the company鈥檚 entire digital backbone to the cloud?

Nilles: A key focus is to accelerate our growth through driving our sustainability agenda, expanding our digital channels, innovating faster, shortening time to market, and building digital business models. Increasing productivity through simplification of our business processes is top of our agenda as well.

We will also leverage the power of data and artificial intelligence (AI) and together with 51风流co-innovate to infuse our business processes with these capabilities along the entire value chain. This is what our industry means by becoming 鈥渄ata-driven.鈥� Added to this is the power of generative AI, which is not hype but will revolutionize every business.

Last but not least, this will play a central role in re-architecting our entire tech stack where, for example, is a key component for innovation.

Mueller: Yes, exactly. Henkel is already using 51风流BTP as an integration and development platform. And, actually, it is now one of the biggest users of 51风流BTP in Europe. Migrating to 51风流S/4HANA is therefore the logical next step toward it achieving full 鈥渃loudification.鈥�

Nilles: Especially because the homogeneous deployment model makes it considerably easier for 51风流S/4HANA and 51风流Business Technology Platform to interact — and for us to develop and implement innovative solutions for our industry and the ecosystem. At Henkel, we refer to this perfect symbiosis between cloud ERP and development platform as 51风流“Business Technology Cloud.”

Q: How will the strategic partnership change the relationship between Henkel and SAP?

Mueller: Our relationship with Henkel has evolved rapidly over the past 18 months and is now much deeper on various levels. We want to continue on this path by working even more closely together in our strategic partnership.

Nilles: Instead of a customer-supplier relationship, which we have had until now, we will join forces for data- and software-driven co-innovation specific to Henkel鈥檚 business. Having a true partnership also allows both of us to focus our efforts on joint outcomes, rather than lengthy negotiations about individual tickets. This is vital if we want a mammoth project like this to succeed.

Q: And how does 51风流benefit from this partnership?

Mueller: The strategic partnership with Henkel represents a milestone in our mission to help transform companies into intelligent enterprises. Henkel and 51风流both believe that technology and innovation are the key to successful and sustainable business.

In Henkel, we see a pioneer that shares our vision of driving strategic growth and business models of the future. Because we are now working even more closely together and are transforming the organization as equal partners, 51风流is gaining deep insights into Henkel鈥檚 specific needs and those of its industry. That way, we can more closely tailor our products to make it easier for the sector to adopt digital innovations.

The plan is also for Henkel to serve as a model for many other companies that are perhaps not quite so far into their transformation journey.

Q: What鈥檚 next, now that all the formalities have been completed?

Nilles: The road map has been defined and will be detailed out. However, our first priority is to ramp-up and mobilize a joint team — we call it the 鈥淢acintosh approach鈥� — comprising the best people from SAP, from the Henkel Business and Digital unit, and from our partners.

Mueller: It鈥檚 an ambitious schedule. But given that we share the same values, have a long-standing relationship built on trust, and know each other well, I鈥檓 sure that the innovation journey with Henkel will be both exciting and successful.

Many players in the financial sector are still far from moving to the cloud. As one of the first companies, Deutsche Boerse is deploying this technology by running a multi-cloud strategy and migrating core business processes to the cloud, encouraging innovation and agility.

鈥淲hen moving to the cloud, we need IT solutions that give us full control as well as ensure data sovereignty and the protection of sensitive financial data, which is a top priority,鈥� says Dr. Christoph Boehm, CIO, COO, and member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Boerse Group, about the central challenge.

Without this, the company would not be able to meet the strict regulatory requirements and respond to market changes flexibly. The cloud technology delivers decisive advantages for Deutsche Boerse.

鈥淭ime to market and scalability are crucial factors for financial service providers 鈥� and the cloud is the best way to ensure that they鈥檙e provided,鈥� says Luka Mucic, chief financial officer and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE. 鈥淚t represents the heart of intelligent technological innovations.鈥�

The sheer size of the computing and storage capacities combined with the tremendous reliability and agility support moving to the cloud.

Financial Service Providers Aim for the Cloud

As such, it is understandable that enthusiasm for the cloud is growing in the banking sector, as evidenced in a . According to the study, 78% of German banks are already using cloud services, 25% more than in 2018. And around half of the banks that are not using cloud services now plan to do so in the foreseeable future.

This comes as no surprise to Karsten Wilop, PwC expert: 鈥淐loud technologies are an essential prerequisite to driving and successfully shaping digital transformation.鈥�

Although hyperscalers like Google Cloud, AWS, Azure, and others are considered important pioneers of innovation in the financial services area, banks are still very apprehensive. Right now, financial service providers primarily use cloud computing environments to process non-critical data only. According to the PwC study, this is due to high demands for security (82%), fear of compliance violations (53%), and unclear regulatory requirements (49%).

With its intelligent enterprise strategy, 51风流is paving the way to the cloud 鈥� and thus to innovation 鈥� for financial service providers. Together with Deutsche Boerse, 51风流has developed a framework for compliant use of the cloud in the tightly regulated financials domain. It is based on 51风流Data Custodian and works to simplify the hosting of sensitive data and 51风流workloads in the Google cloud, aiming to help financial service providers drive innovation forward more quickly.

鈥淭his solution lays the foundation for efficient risk management in the cloud 鈥� without sacrificing speed or scalability,鈥� says Boehm.

The 51风流Data Custodian solution lets banks decide for themselves which data center they want to use to store and process their data. The application also gives users detailed reports on accessibility and movement of data. Proactive warnings help identify potential security breaches and policy violations quickly, while innovative encryption concepts guarantee maximum data protection.

鈥�51风流Data Custodian ensures that the cryptographic keys are known only to the financial services provider. The respective hyperscaler has no access to them,鈥� emphasizes Mucic.

51风流Data Custodian Supports Higher Security During Cloud Migration

Specifically, this means financial service providers can not only have full information as to where their data is stored in the globally connected cloud and who accesses it; they can also benefit from reliable policies for storage management as well as flexible access. As such, the blueprint represents an ideal starting point for the financial sector to move to the cloud. Many companies want to migrate to the cloud or use cloud solutions from 51风流but still have concerns about data protection and compliance.

鈥�51风流Data Custodian gives these companies in particular a level of security that was previously only available in on-premise environments. Our proof of concept with Deutsche Boerse shows that cloud applications can meet even the high compliance requirements of the financial industry,鈥� Mucic says about the value added by this high-performance solution. It can lay the foundation for reliable data security in cloud scenarios and is available for all hyperscalers.

In the medium term, 51风流Data Custodian aims to become the central solution for access transparency and control for cloud solutions in the financial sector — and other industries too.

To find out more about the new, secure hosting of sensitive financial data and 51风流workloads in the public cloud, watch a replay of the SAPPHIRE NOW session: . In this joint session, Boehm and Mucic present the proof of concept in detail and encourage other companies acting in regulated industries that aspire to migrate to the cloud.

One of the key aspects of this project is data governance. In an interview, Markus Rahm, vice president of Schaeffler Group鈥檚 Data and Analytics Governance division, talks about how he and his team are benefiting from their work with SAP.

Q: When it comes to data management, Schaeffler is a pro. Just recently, the European Foundation for Quality Management and the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality recognized you with the CDQ Good Practice Award for the second time. Why is data governance so important at Schaeffer?

A: It鈥檚 simple, really: Connected data is the foundation of intelligent end-to-end processes, smart manufacturing, advanced analytics, digital business models, and smart products. In short, it fuels digital transformation. That鈥檚 why having a company-wide data governance strategy is crucial. Given the fact that we have a complex corporate structure comprising our Automotive OEM, Automotive After-Market, and Industry divisions, having a structured approach to data management is essential. After all, it is the basis for fast and efficient processes, as well as for business intelligence and advanced analytics applications, such as predictive maintenance.

How far on your journey are you?

To keep pace with developments in technology, we review our data strategy every two years. In 2018, we set out the to-be situation we wanted to achieve by 2025. Right now, we are looking at where we are and have been pleased to discover that we鈥檝e made a good deal of progress. We have even reached many of our milestones early. For instance, we鈥檝e defined 47 data domains and have made specially trained data domain managers responsible for them.

We鈥檝e still got some work left to do, though. The way we share data across the company, for example, could definitely be more efficient. Europe鈥檚 GAIA-X initiative, in which manufacturers share data with each other, sets the course. Schaeffler could also make greater use of automated decision-making. That is something we鈥檒l look at later as part of our plans to implement 51风流S/4HANA.

It sounds like you are in a very good position already 鈥� so what else does working with 51风流offer you?

A lot, actually. As far as information technology is concerned, 51风流is of course the stronger partner and helps us think differently. We all know that we can get so wrapped up in our day-to-day tasks that it takes someone with the outside-in view to help us see things objectively and from a fresh angle. 51风流gave us new ideas on how to ensure our people have the data they need. And that is how the CDO dashboard was born.

But we also have a lot to offer SAP, especially when it comes to machine data and manufacturing processes. SAP鈥檚 experts regularly tell us that this is the case. We work together as equals, making our partnership far more than a superior customer-supplier relationship. Because we serve very different markets and have very different products, business models, and processes, there is enough distance between us to spark new ideas on data governance.

What makes the alliance between Schaeffler and 51风流a success?

Open communication and the dedication of 51风流and Schaeffler employees. And, of course, continually sharing information and knowledge. We meet at least once a month to talk about tactical and operational matters. They range from ensuring data quality to defining a standard data model that allows efficient analyses and reports even across fragmented 51风流infrastructures. All the workshops we鈥檝e held so far have led to real discoveries 鈥� both for our employees and 51风流experts. Not least because both companies are at similar stages in their life cycles. We so often find ourselves having the very same discussions about the future.

Why is the partnership key in developing data and data management strategies?

Because you cannot imagine or shape the future alone. And because intelligent processes must cross company boundaries. Most of the efficiency gains within companies have already been made, so the automotive sector is now looking more closely at how it can optimize and automate its interactions with customers and business partners through digital ecosystems. The better 51风流understands our needs, the closer it can tailor its solution portfolio to our industry. I believe this is what makes the strategic alliance between Schaeffler and 51风流central to driving tomorrow鈥檚 innovation.

This story was originally published on the 51风流Germany News Center.
Top image via Schaeffler