Future Retail Center: SAF and SAP Research are developing innovative solution scenarios for retail stores

SAF AG, which is listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN CH0024848738), and is one of the world’s leading suppliers of automated forecasting and ordering software for retailers, is working together with SAP AG in the field of Research & Innovation. In cooperation with SAP Research, SAP's global research organization, SAF is developing practical and innovative solutions for the retail business in the Future Retail Center in Regensdorf, near Zürich. This work is focused on developing a prototype for monitoring the sensitive sales of fresh products.

Fresh products are a hallmark of quality that consumers carefully scrutinize. That's why retailers pay particular attention to product availability and to an attractive product offering in this assortment.

This represents major challenges for retailers. Fresh products are characterized by their short shelf life and the associated risk of spoilage. That's why it is crucial that retailers avoid excess stocks that directly lead to losses due to impending product spoilage.

Intraday monitoring of fresh product sales is of key importance due to their perishability and short shelf life. SAF and SAP Research are working together on a prototype in the Future Retail Center to enable retailers to better deal with the challenges of fresh product assortments in future.

Utilizing an automated forecasting and ordering system, the prototype compares actual sales realized during the course of the day at product level with a continuously updated forecast and identifies significant deviations. The system alerts the retailer via an alarm function to items that will be overstocked or out of stock at the end of the day. “Using the intraday monitoring function, the order writer in the store can directly react to imminent excess stocks or lost sales in the fresh product assortment with suitable measures such as advertising, pricing adjustments or revision of existing orders,” explains Udo Meyzis, CEO of SAF, the advantages of this joint solution approach. “With this approach, we can optimally support the retailer’s ordering process to meet customer demand and, at the same time, to ensure the high quality as well as an attractive selection of fresh products.” SAP Research will present this prototype together with SAF at the CeBIT Exhibition from March 1-5, 2011 in Hanover at Booth D04 in Hall 4.