 Trade
Depot
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Trade Depot is a new UK format aimed solely at the trade buyer.
Its main targets are the small builder and trade professional, such
as plumbers, electricians and so on. It stocks around 8,000 product
lines.
Sites trade from approximately 35,000 ft2, and consist of four
departments - joinery, plumbing, decorative and construction. Each
department is staffed by experts who are there to offer advice and
excellent service. Its offerings include a range of doors and windows,
heating and plumbing equipment and kitchens and bathrooms.
Trade Depot is a division of Kingfisher Plc. It was launched in
October 2005 to help meet the growing demands of the trade market.
Trade Depot has added to Kingfisher’s considerable success,
trading alongside B&Q and Screwfix Direct, both well established
players within the DIY and trade markets.
The Problem
Trade Depot was launched as a brand new retail format because Kingfisher
identified the potential in the building trade market, which it
already operates in through its Screwfix catalogue and online business.
The company currently operates two stores and will open around
four more this year. However, between 10 and 15 are planned for
2007 and a total of 70 over five years. In opening the first store,
Trade Depot wanted to be certain that it chose systems that would
enable it to grow easily and rapidly.
The Solution
Trade Depot wanted a solution that could be implemented quickly
and provide templates based on best practice already in use within
other retailers. The company therefore adopted an "All-in-One"
version of SAP for the retail sector called novaRetail, developed
and implemented by SAP retail systems specialist CIBER Novasoft.
novaRetail includes full versions of all SAP Retail modules, but
also includes templates of ready-to-run retail functions that enable
fast and robust implementation, reducing both cost and risk of SAP
Retail implementations significantly. At Trade Depot, the first
project went live in 10 weeks.
CIBER Novasoft implemented SAP Retail in the areas of finance,
controlling, master data, central purchasing, store ordering, stock
management, providing an interface to Retail J's EPoS solution,
and processing data from Retail J into SAP.
The total solution was provided within the standard scope of novaRetail,
and has enabled Trade Depot to successfully open two stores.
In order to facilitate comprehensive stock management, Trade Depot
and CIBER Novasoft also decided upon the use of mobile devices directly
linked to the central SAP system. Within two months, a complete
HHT solution was implemented, allowing for goods receipts, stock
counts and adjustments, stock and price checks and returns. Additional
store stock management functions are carried out using SAP Retail
Store in the branch back-office.
The Choice
The core technologies chosen to sustain Trade Depot during its
growth were SAP for enterprise management and Retail J for the point
of sale. The company chose CIBER Novasoft as the implementation
partner mainly because of its highly successful SAP retail implementations
at Kingfisher’s B&Q stores, both in the UK and internationally.
CIBER Novasoft was also chosen because of its commitment to delivering
low-cost, low-maintenance, and rapid implementations through its
pre-configured mySAP All-in-One solution, novaRetail. novaRetail
delivered 80% of the core functionality required by Trade Depot,
allowing CIBER Novasoft to concentrate its efforts on the processes
unique to the company.
Dave Perry, Trade Depot’s Head of Systems, is positive about
CIBER Novasoft’s contribution. He says, “CIBER Novasoft
felt like an extended part of our family and were committed the
whole way. They were willing to do things our way rather than dictating
their own way of working.”
The Benefits
Perry says, “We can definitely say that our stock levels
and profiles are more accurate and we are operating perpetual inventory
to ensure that we have the ideal stock to meet our financial targets
and our customers’ expectations. In short, we know what we
have and what we need to sell.”
He adds, “Critically, we now have the infrastructure in place
that will enable us to grow rapidly, to 70 stores in five years.
We are currently commoditising the solution further so that we can
roll out new stores.”
Perry explains, “CIBER Novasoft have been very successful
with this project because they got very close to the business and
made sure they understood our processes. They spent a lot of time
in the stores with staff to see exactly how they worked.”
He concludes, “We are lucky in that we are working with a
partner who is really enthusiastic about the business and understands
what we are trying to achieve.”
About CIBER Novasoft UK
CIBER Novasoft is a leading SAP consultancy providing world-wide
support for a range of high profile clients in the retail sector.
We have maintained our reputation as the world's leading SAP Retail
implementation partner ever since being the first partner to implement
SAP Retail when it was launched in 1996.
CIBER Novasoft’s success in the UK has been built on the
retail industry’s main priority today: integration of systems,
data and processes to provide a seamless retail management and customer
experience across multiple channels. Our customers include numerous
high profile brand names such as The Big Food Group, B&Q, Direct
Wines, Dunelm Mill, French Connection, Goldsmiths, and Halfords.
CIBER Novasoft is part of CIBER, Inc. (NYSE: CBR), a leading international
systems integration consultancy providing superior value-priced
services to both private and government sector clients. CIBER’s
global delivery services are offered on a project or strategic staffing
basis, in both custom and enterprise resource planning (ERP) package
environments, and across all technology platforms, operating systems
and infrastructures. CIBER serves client businesses from over 60
U.S. offices, 20 European offices and four offices in Asia, operates
in
18
countries with
8,500
employees, and has an annual revenue of more than
approximately $1.2 billion
million. CIBER is included in the Russell 2000 Index and the S&P
Small Cap 600 Index.
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