They end up in almost every shopping cart every day: Consumer goods such as toothpaste, noodles, detergents, and such. The market for these fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) is correspondingly challenging. It is characterized by short turnaround times and product lifecycles, complex global supply chains, and great competitive and innovative pressure. There are also strict compliance requirements, for example regarding the traceability and sustainability of products.
Powerful SAP cloud ERP software helps players in the consumer-goods sector – manufacturers and retailers alike – to meet these requirements in an agile manner. With SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, they are establishing an intelligent digital core for their business, one that will help them remain sustainable in the long term and further advance their digitalization. This core maps the company’s central business processes based on best practices, continuously delivering innovation while providing flexibility to give it a competitive edge.
In addition, the classic benefits of software as a service (SAAS) make this SAP cloud solution the best choice: Rapid implementation, lower capital and operating costs, agility, ongoing technological and regulatory timeliness, and unlimited scalability.
Plan ahead with SAP Cloud ERP
Implementing SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud enables FMCG companies to position themselves quickly with optimized core processes. Thanks to the solution’s modular architecture, more specific requirements along the entire value chain can be mapped rapidly using individual extensions and complementary SAP cloud solutions – the spectrum ranges from the digital supply chain to analytics and customer experience to sustainability. This way, manufacturers and retail companies can design their business software as needed while remaining flexible to adapt to changing conditions. The fast-moving consumer goods industry stands to benefit particularly from the advantages of the cloud.
S/4HANA Public Cloud helps companies act quickly and predictively in many ways. In planning, for example, transparent data, available in real time and analyzed with a click, provides immediate insight into the current situation of all business units. This allows companies to shorten planning cycles and make better-informed decisions.
Predictive analytics and machine learning capabilities can be used to detect fluctuations in demand at an early stage, which makes it easier to forecast needs more accurately, optimize inventory levels, and adjust production. Effortless networking of partners helps encourage collaboration along the supply chain.
Well-positioned from omnichannel to sustainability
Comprehensive omnichannel capabilities ensure a consistent shopping experience across channels. SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, for example, integrates all data from a web shop, branch office, or mobile app via a central platform. Complete, consistent, and up-to-date data makes it easier to understand customers’ needs and make appropriately personalized offers. This, in turn, contributes to increased sales. Companies can optimize the customer journey more specifically by linking solutions from the SAP customer experience portfolio to the cloud ERP. In addition, valantic’s custom-tailored retail and wholesale solutions help retail companies implement their business strategies.
Consumer goods companies must also increasingly focus on sustainability. SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud can help them with this. For example, by providing visibility along the entire supply chain, the software can target, analyze, and optimize a company’s CO2 emissions and resource consumption. Access to sustainability data also allows companies to make informed decisions. For more specific requirements, SAP has a wide-ranging sustainability portfolio, which can be connected quickly and easily if required.
SAP Cloud ERP offers companies every opportunity to make themselves fit for the future. In our fictitious use case, a start-up specializing in sustainable food benefits especially from the scalability, broad functional spectrum, and flexibility of SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud. While the prior IT system had reached its limits due to growth, the SAP Cloud ERP solution allows the company to establish efficient processes quickly and to adapt these as business develops. In addition, real-time insights into the supply chain and opportunities to pursue its own sustainability goals are key to this start-up’s success in its market. In the next step, it is now planning to introduce the SAP Customer Data Platform to target buyers more effectively by merging all customer-related data.
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