Save looks to UCS

Save Cash & Carry is a wholesale business spanning across food and general merchandise. It required a world-class solution that would help it to consolidate its current position and enable the business to grow, adapt and evolve. However, Save Cash & Carry did not want to carry the costs and operational complexities typical of large systems.

The ReadytoRetail solution from UCS (powered by SAP Business All-in-One), met its requirements in terms of fit, timeframe and costs. It has recognised some of these benefits more recently when it expanded the focus of its business to include a retail element, which has complemented its traditional wholesale or Cash & Carry enterprise.

This change in their business model has allowed Save Cash & Carry to double its monthly turnover, from its first month of trading in the new format, with no additional IT spend or investment.

The company is a cash and carry operator, with a retail component. It is a single site operation with 10 000 sm2 of floor space, located in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. Save Cash & Carry boasts a broad wholesale and retail product range, including FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) butchery, fruit & veg, pharmacy, electronics through to general merchandise.

Revenue:
Save Cash & Carry's annual turnover is +/- R600 million.

Market segmentation:
The company previously focused on the 1 - 5 Living Standards Measure (LSM), and is now appealing to the 1 - 8 LSM due to the improved facilities and focus on the retail / housewives market.

Vendors:
In excess of one thousand independent suppliers.

Number of SKUs:
In excess of forty thousand.

Number of employees:
Three hundred and fifty people.

Web site URL:
http://www.sa-save.com

Database IBM DB2.

Hardware IBM Rack mounted servers.

Operating system
Redhat Linux. SAP Systems Info SAP ERP for Retail Solution. SAP PI - Process Integrator. SAP BI - Business Intelligence.

The challenges:

Prior to the deployment of the UCS ReadytoRetail solution, the business operations model was heavily reliant on manual intervention. This in turn led to job duplication, lack of transparency and compromised data integrity. Employees were burdened with cumbersome tasks that could be automated. Moreover, the legacy system did not provide the information required by the management team to guide the business into the future.

The goals:

Management identified the need to standardise and improve efficiencies within existing operations, by:

* Regulating new systems with less reliance on key employees.
* Improving controls and business processes.
* Gaining access to accurate data with slice and dice reporting capabilities.
* Improving stock control.
* Improving trading margins.
* Measuring and managing key business metrics over a flexible range of time periods.

The solution:

ReadytoRetail, a retail and wholesale specific solution developed and implemented by UCS Solutions, which is based on the UCS ReadytoRetail (powered by SAP Business All-in-One) software platform.

Save Cash and Carry sought a long-term business partner, with relevant IT and systems expertise specifically in the retail and wholesale sectors. UCS Solutions was selected as the preferred supplier due to its proven track record of successful implementation of SAP into retail and wholesale outlets.

* The ability to manage and measure “moving average cost”.
* Significantly improve the procurement process, by using: - Delivery dates and managing supplier service levels. - Blind receiving and especially the ability to manage over deliveries. - RF scanners used to receive stock via bar codes.
* Extensive article master management.
* Sites and site groupings.
* Accurate and reliable information.
* Proactive vs reactive management practices.
* Encourages expansion.
* Ability to open new sites with control and speed.
* Very quick - day end/month end processes.
* Visibility of price overrides.
* Ability to set selling prices by store.
* Quick to create and adapt reports.
* Greater visibility of key business metrics, for improved decision-making and ultimately growth.
* Slice and dice functionality allows for proactive exception management at a granular level leading to improved operational efficiencies and therefore cost savings.
* Improved supply chain efficiencies through process automation and reduced manual entries and therefore errors.
* Business processes were adapted to adhere to ReadytoRetail, minimising changes and allowing rapid deployment of the solution.

ReadytoRetail provides:

* A secure investment.
* The ability to position the company for future growth.
* A route to industry best practices.
* Ongoing support services outsourced to UCS Solutions reducing daily operational IT tasks and freeing Save Cash & Carry resources to focus on trading.
* Rapid project implementation reducing the impact on daily business activities.

Services rendered:

* Project management.
* SAP consulting.
* Retail consulting.
* End-user training.
* Ongoing SAP application support.
* Hosting (network & servers).

Project time-line:

The project started in February 2006 and the entire company switched over to SAP in July 2006, resulting in a five-month project.

Future developments:

* Ongoing enhancements are being installed as the business continues to grow and expand. For Save Cash & Carry, the primary objective was to establish a complete solution that would be flexible and capable of fulfilling the company's complex requirements and growth objectives. The goal was to achieve results with a small IT staff complement and roll out the solution rapidly with minimal disruption to operations, while achieving some quick wins through improved efficiencies and stock management.

Craig Butler, business development manager at UCS, explains how the customer's needs were met. “We proposed the UCS ReadytoRetail solution (powered by SAP Business All-in-One), which is tightly integrated into a UCS point-of-sale. The solution provides complete visibility and control across the entire organisation. Furthermore, the reporting capabilities of the solution supplies management with crucial information at product margin level for individual stores. This in turn translates into an in-depth understanding of the business and affords the necessary tools to facilitate reaction to changing market conditions. The flexibility this offers is critical to the successful running of the company. Save Cash & Carry was very clear on its requirements and vision for the future growth of the business. The management understood the need for a solid IT platform, which made the fit between the UCS solution and the customer's requirements - a good match.

Implementation highlights:

* From the start, Save Cash & Carry was able to react to information provided by the system.
* Deployment time was significantly reduced when compared with traditional implementations, causing minimum disruption to daily business activities and reducing costs.
* Save Cash & Carry embraced the ReadytoRetail approach and rapidly adopted the template into its business with resultant ROI (return on investment).

Key knowledge acquired:

* The importance of training and change management.
* Start data purification as early as possible.

Ebrahim Kajee, finance manager for Save Cash & Carry, reveals the company's requirements and how the UCS ReadytoRetail solution enables future potential.

“We faced the prospect of a core change in our business model from that of wholesaler to wholesaler-plus-retailer. This entailed redesign of our premises and many new products. Simultaneously we needed to set up a system that would provide overall management controls, no matter how many new branches we open.

“The ReadytoRetail solution, with its strong SAP back-end, provides excellent controls and reporting features that are essential for our fast-moving arena. At the front end, the UCS POS system ensures our customers are served efficiently, no matter what products or quantities they buy.

“In-house, we have only a small IT staff complement. It was important to us that the UCS solution should provide extensive, outsourced support for deployment and maintenance of the solution.

“UCS has provided excellent support throughout, from consulting and planning, through to final deployment.

“The solution has enormous potential for growth, which is a perfect fit for our business plans. Additionally, the ongoing expert support from UCS makes us confident of seeing further value from the IT investment well into the future,” Kajee concludes.

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