The wholesale trade is constantly challenged to provide its customers with a variety of products in increasingly volatile markets with high availability and fast delivery. Having goods in the right place at the right time is one of the most important success factors for wholesale companies in the retail sector. Efficient merchandise management systems are an essential factor for the organisation in meeting customer needs across all sales channels.
Challenges
A high transaction volume requires possibilities for rapid processing in sales, taking into account a highly differentiated and complex system of conditions. The mapping of different discount logics, the correct assignment of supplier bonuses and the settlement support are daily practice in project business. In warehouse and customer logistics, high quality standards can only be achieved through coordinated and optimized processes that extend to accounting and controlling in an integrated solution. These form the common basis for transparency and speed in reporting.
msg Plaut offers industry knowledge and proven IT systems based on SAP S/4HANA for the wholesale trade. Our consultants have many years of experience in operational functions in wholesale and speak the language of the industry.
The partnership with FIS, the specialist for IT solutions in technical wholesale, enables us to implement SAP as standard, which integrates seamlessly with FIS software. Numerous tried-and-tested functionalities are already available and are individually adapted to the company's requirements together with the customer.
Highlights for the technical wholesale trade
Processing of GAEB, ÖNORM and DATANORM files
Structured mapping of service specifications
Title and totals function similar to the structure of service specifications
Inquiries to suppliers directly from the offer
Integration of the supplier offers into the customer offer recording
Automatic article search and retrieval (text mining in service specifications)
Object processing and management (e.g. of construction projects)
Optimised offer calculation including EK+ for the wholesale trade in the sanitary, heating and air conditioning sectors
Central interface for platforms to maintain your master data
Optional article search within an online shop system with direct transfer of the shopping cart
Simple creation of catalogues (with data transfer from external catalogues)
Document output with neutral texts for your end customers
Returns monitor for convenient processing of returns
Comfortable exhibition handling
Comprehensive analysis of margins and project results
Extended pricing options for margin optimization
Your perfect solution
Together with you, we work out the business goals of an implementation based on your corporate strategy, define key performance indicators and contribute project experience from numerous implementations. We know that the implementation of a new merchandise management system with integrated accounting and shop system places great demands on the organisation. Parallel to daily business, workshops have to be held, decisions on future requirements and often strategic questions have to be dealt with. That is why we already bring our entire "construction kit" of efficient project organization, including project manual, meeting structures, sample forms and documents.
In customer projects, the following savings and improvement potentials, among others, have been achieved by implementing SAP S/4HANA and FIS solutions
Integration and transparency: depiction of true costs and results
Integration and transparency: depiction of true costs and results
- ONE view on data and processes: Integration of processes creates understanding for a company-wide overall view
- A number is a number: integration and ONE truth
- Document flow: continuous traceability of documents
- Traceable and auditable also for the audit
Future security: minimizing dependence on a few knowledge carriers and IT gurus
Future security: minimizing dependence on a few knowledge carriers and IT gurus
- Standard solution vs. in-house development
- Independence from own developers
- Possibility to purchase services from alternative partners
Timeliness: ensuring compliance with the law
Timeliness: ensuring compliance with the law
- Legal requirements are available on time
- New requirements for formats (interfaces, data downloads etc.) are available
Customer bonus: ensuring that not too much bonus is paid
Customer bonus: ensuring that not too much bonus is paid
- Rebate agreements as a basis for the central settlement of credit notes
- More detailed bonus agreements including exclusion possibilities
Supplier bonus and support: Ensuring that not too little bonus is claimed
Supplier bonus and support: Ensuring that not too little bonus is claimed
- Rebate agreements as basis for central settlement of credit notes
- Transparency and efficient billing, ensuring complete accounting
- Recognition of bonus thresholds and decision of forced bonus usage
- Correct accounting and evaluation of project results through automated allocation of support
- Transparency for nested bonuses
Harmonised reporting: Indisputable basis for decisions
Harmonised reporting: Indisputable basis for decisions
- Integrated system & central master data
- Uniform reporting across several company codes
- Reduction of manually prepared reports - Fiori Launchpad
- Comprehensive analyses to identify "DB Bringers" and "DB Destroyers" at customer and assortment level
- Ensuring liquidity
Discount / product group structure: Ensure that discounts are not too high
Discount / product group structure: Ensure that discounts are not too high
- Efficient maintenance of customer/material conditions
- Maintenance at material group level
- No limit on number of discount groups
- Clear internal rules for discount levels and approvals
- Active control of discount levels and thus increased contribution margins in difficult market environment
Inventory monitoring: reduction of inventory value, capital commitment and costs for sales and disposal
Inventory monitoring: reduction of inventory value, capital commitment and costs for sales and disposal
- Data basis for ABC analyses of the stock available
- Monitoring of slow sellers’ - Sales process
- Monitoring of reservations and early cancellation
- Reminder of open customer calls
An individual presentation of the benefits can always only be worked out on the basis of the concrete company. The depicted areas of benefit are derived from numerous projects and thus provide a practical basis for individual derivation.
Benefits can be presented on two levels
- Benefits that are difficult or impossible to quantify (e.g: Quick and reliable decisions in difficult market situations; current rapid customer information)
- Quantifiable benefit (e.g.: Improvement of margins through optimized discount management, inventory reduction, reduction of costs for disposal
Together with you, we work out a reliable, expected benefit calculation in advance of your decision: Not every benefit of a new integrated IT system can be measured. However, the measurable benefit makes an important contribution to seeing the decision to invest in a new IT solution as an investment "that pays off". It is important to anchor this in the project objectives and to pursue it consistently in the project. We can help you do this!