“Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life.”
—Bill Cunningham

That may be true for the end consumer, but for fashion retailers, technology is the armor to survive the realities of everyday business.

The best way for a fashion retailer to suit up is SAP S/4HANA® for Fashion. It has the capabilities and features that fashion brands need to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and increase business growth.

Following are three real-world SAP S/4HANA for Fashion use cases that highlight results achieved by one of our longstanding global customers.

Use Case One: Overcoming Limitations of Legacy Systems

Our global fashion brand was challenged by its heavily customized and non-scalable legacy ERP system.

The system was rapidly approaching the end of its maintenance and support lifecycle, posing a risk to the brand’s growth plans. The brand collaborated with Rizing and SAP to address this and began a transformation using S/4HANA.

The solution gradually transitioned business-critical functions from the legacy ERP to S/4HANA. By closely managing the transition, the team minimized technical debt and enabled direct-to-consumer and finance operations on the new platform.

Additionally, the customer replaced a decentralized retail ERP and POS system with a global template POS solution integrated with S/4HANA and SAP Customer Activity Repository (CAR).

And the results?

The brand moved from a decentralized store system to a more efficient centralized platform. This allowed them to better serve and understand their customers by seeing customer insights, trends, and buying patterns across various channels.

Thanks to the standardized processes and technology the global template provides, the customer also set themselves up for easier future growth and market expansion.

Use Case 2: Enhancing Omnichannel Enablement

The company wanted to understand its customer buying patterns better to improve and expand offerings in all its sales channels. SAP S/4HANA played a crucial role in getting that understanding.

By implementing SAP CAR, the brand had a view of consumer activity in all channels and regions. This unified view lets the company better manage its orders and set them up for future integration and development.

The brand used the SAP CAR 360-degree consumer view, consolidating orders from all sales channels into one location. This view lets the brand see and understand customer shopping patterns and react by implementing targeted promotions and pricing strategies.

S/4HANA and SAP CAR also let the company manage inventory levels in all regions and locations. This improved their planning and ability to fulfil customer orders reliably.

By integrating RFID technology with S/4HANA, the brand achieved real-time and accurate inventory visibility, simplifying the inventory management process.

The company can see accurate inventory counts in real-time using RFID technology integrated with S/4HANA. They are now setup to implement additional tools like replenishment planning and assortment management.

Use Case 3: Optimizing Store Operations

The company had outdated legacy retail ERP systems and unreliable handheld connectivity causing delays in store logistics, merchandise management, and consumer service levels. SAP S/4HANA presented a solution to streamline and optimize these operations.

Using standard store operations applications provided by S/4HANA, store employees can now efficiently carry out day-to-day activities and processes. The SAP implementation team tailored these applications to specific customer needs, improving store personnel’s quality of life. Real-time and accurate inventory and pricing visibility became possible from any device, replacing the local POS and offline handheld devices.

Using RFID technology in the global template improved the stock-taking processes, eliminating manual file exchanges and reducing inaccuracies. By integrating S/4HANA with ticketing, the team:

  • Eliminated manual data extracting and uploading
  • Provided on-demand access to product, site, and pricing information
  • Enabled efficient reticketing efforts
  • Optimized distribution processes
  • Bypassed unnecessary stopovers at local or central distribution centers

On-Demand Webinar

All three of the above use cases are included in the Global Retailer Streamlines and Harmonizes Retail Processes with SAP S/4HANA® Fashion on-demand webinar from Rizing (registration required):

Here’s a preview of the webinar contents:

Industry Trends: Why SAP S/4HANA for Fashion

The fashion industry constantly evolves, and businesses need technology solutions that keep pace with the market.

SAP S/4HANA for Fashion offers:

Process Standardization

S/4HANA enables fashion brands to standardize their business processes, improving efficiency and consistency.

Omnichannel Enablement

With consumers expecting seamless multi-channel shopping experiences, S/4HANA effectively integrates and manages omnichannel operations.

Data-Driven Insights

S/4HANA has advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, letting fashion brands learn about customer behavior, market trends, and operational performance.

Scalability and Flexibility

S/4HANA’s in-memory computing and cloud capabilities offer scalability and flexibility, allowing fashion brands to adapt and grow in a rapidly changing market.

Integration and Collaboration

S/4HANA facilitates integration with other SAP solutions and enables collaboration between various departments and stakeholders within the organization.

SAP S/4HANA is a Vital Technology

SAP S/4HANA for Fashion is a vital technology enabler for fashion brands, addressing customer, business, and technology challenges. Through these three use cases, we’ve seen how S/4HANA enabled a customer to overcome the limitations of legacy systems, enhance omnichannel enablement, and optimize store operations.

Using S/4HANA, fashion brands can realize potential, grow their business, and stay ahead in the competitive fashion industry.

Experience Matters

When it comes to making your business excel, you know best. We’re here to help you reimagine the solutions to your real-world challenges. We’ve been there, speak your language, and are driven to solve the smallest or most complex challenges in fashion and retail.