Retail and eCommerce

Retail industry encompasses small businesses and chain stores of all sizes. These businesses sell consumer products directly to individual consumers. Within retail, there is extensive classification, depending on the specialty or type of retailer. Segmentation may be by product being retailed (ex: apparel, furniture, electronics, grocery etc.) or channel of distribution (ex: supermarkets, convenience stores, specialty stores etc.).

In U.S, retail jobs are the most common occupation, as per Census.gov, with approximately 7% of U.S population employed in retail frontline operation. Conventional brick and mortar format of retail has been disrupted in the 21st century by the rise of electronic commerce, popularly known as ecommerce.

Ecommerce takes buying and selling of products and services online, thereby significantly disrupting the traditional retail model. Due to the increasing adoption of ecommerce in end consumers, which exploded exponentially during the pandemic, traditional retailers are increasingly adopting the ecommerce model and hence creating an omnichannel strategy.

Technology in Retail and Ecommerce

Retail industry encompasses small businesses and chain stores of all sizes. These businesses sell consumer products directly to individual consumers. Within retail, there is extensive classification, depending on the specialty or type of retailer. Segmentation may be by product being retailed (ex: apparel, furniture, electronics, grocery etc.) or channel of distribution (ex: supermarkets, convenience stores, specialty stores etc.).

In U.S, retail jobs are the most common occupation, as per Census.gov, with approximately 7% of U.S population employed in retail frontline operation. Conventional brick and mortar format of retail has been disrupted in the 21st century by the rise of electronic commerce, popularly known as ecommerce.

Ecommerce takes buying and selling of products and services online, thereby significantly disrupting the traditional retail model. Due to the increasing adoption of ecommerce in end consumers, which exploded exponentially during the pandemic, traditional retailers are increasingly adopting the ecommerce model and hence creating an omnichannel strategy.

Technology in Retail and Ecommerce

While ecommerce is entirely a product of technology, retail industry has not been a stranger to technology either. Likes of Walmart leveraged technology decades ago to build business models that destroyed competitors like K-mart. Technology plays a key role in retail value chain, from core supply chain activities ranging from inbound logistics to last mile delivery, to support activities like procurement, marketing, financial planning, people and resource management, merchandizing, assortment planning etc. On the ecommerce side, in addition to the platforms that support ecommerce and the supply chain components, technology adds value in areas like web analytics, assortment planning, personalization, recommendations etc.

SAP has a rich portfolio of solutions that support retail and ecommerce, branded as omnichannel retail. While its SAP S/4HANA product has customized retail industry features, like merchandize management, a plethora of other technologies like SAP intelligent returns management, SAP commerce cloud, SAP Ariba, SAP CX etc. support key omnichannel retail operations like marketing and customer experience, merchandizing, sourcing, and procurement, financial planning, omnichannel retail and store operations. SAP partner ecosystem also has a rich portfolio of partners like DataXstream, which helps retailers and wholesalers develop robust omnichannel capabilities. 

Key Considerations for SAPinsiders

This article shares how Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) launched a transformation initiative designed to modernize the company’s core business processes to give employees better access to data in real-time at all levels of the organization. The initiative began as a program to replace its custom legacy ERP system with SAP S/4HANA at its 9,000 stores worldwide but soon turned into a full-scale transformation of WBA’s business.

This article discusses how breakthrough beverages expedited the transformation of its distribution operations leveraging ecommerce and SAP technology. Breakthrough was able to move fast and adapt to changing demand patterns because of end-to-end SAP Commerce Cloud and SAP Customer Data Cloud solutions, as well as SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) for ERP, which has helped them tremendously in meeting customer demand.

34 results

  1. 2025 Retail Technology Trends & Challenges

    Reading time: 1 mins

    Learn about our latest trends and insights to assess the state of retail technology form executives across the industry.

  2. 2025 Retail Technology Trends & Challenges

    Reading time: 11 mins

    A survey conducted by Rizing revealed that top retail executives in North America face challenges such as supply chain disruptions, economic uncertainty, and insufficient ERP integration, while also recognizing the need for investments in technology, particularly in inventory management, AI adoption, and unified commerce strategies to enhance operational resilience by 2025.

  3. : How APAC Retail Is Winning with SAP Cloud

    From Mayhem to Market Leadership: How APAC Retail Is Winning with SAP Cloud

    Published: 11/June/2025

    Reading time: 3 mins

    The dynamic retail landscape in Asia Pacific drives companies like BIG Caring Group to adopt cloud solutions such as RISE with SAP on AWS for greater data unification and operational efficiency, enabling them to leverage AI for enhanced customer experiences and strategic growth.

  4. a woman looking at furniture samples close to a male shop assistant | AZN retailer chooses Coveo for AI-enhanced customer experience, underpinned by SAP

    ANZ retailer chooses Coveo for SAP-flavored, AI-enhanced customer experience

    Published: 11/January/2025

    Reading time: 2 mins

    AI platform Coveo has announced a collaboration with Freedom Furniture, with Coveo’s AI Platform to improve product discovery.

  5. SAP Shops S/4HANA Public Cloud to Retail for Supply Chain Fix

    Published: 10/January/2025

    Reading time: 3 mins

    SAP has launched the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition tailored specifically for retailers, featuring enhanced supply chain capabilities aimed at optimising inventory management, improving operational efficiency, and facilitating omnichannel operations.

  6. Image of a field of orange and white wildflowers | Groupe Rocher Boomi Integration

    Groupe Rocher’s sustainability strategy blooms with Boomi integration

    Published: 28/October/2024

    Reading time: 3 mins

    Groupe Rocher, a sustainable beauty and lifestyle retailer, looked to keep up with demand and deliver a better customer experience using the Boomi low-code integration platform to align IT with sustainability goals.

  7. The AI Narrative Is More Than Just a Story

    Published: 05/September/2024

    Reading time: 3 mins

    With all the current AI chatter in ERP and cloud, one naturally knows all the major vendors are playing the artificial intelligence game. One could also assume that the happier vendors are to talk up AI, the easier it is to introduce new software on the market. Rightly or wrongly, the presumption here would be…

  8. Mitre 10 NZ builds a new centralised SAP S/4HANA home for 84 stores

    Published: 15/August/2024

    Reading time: 2 mins

    The recent Mitre 10 digital transformation project was effectively 84 unique transformation projects – harmonising, centralising and boosting data quality from 84 environments with differing data and inventory systems. The complex project for home improvement and garden retailer Mitre 10 New Zealand migrated 84 independent stores to SAP S/4HANA with the support of a data…

  9. Mitre 10’s Digital Transformation: Achieving Excellence with SAP S/4 HANA Migration

    Published: 24/June/2024

    Reading time: 1 min

    Mitre 10 New Zealand’s migration to SAP S/4HANA with Syniti led to a 96% ETL accuracy improvement, streamlined operations, and enhanced customer experiences.

  10. A Data Revolution: Foodstuffs South Island’s SAP Data & Analytics Journey

    Foodstuffs South Island empowers their BI team and analysts with self-service reporting from live data through GCP, SAP Datasphere, and SAP Analytics Cloud, fostering a data revolution via an Analytics Community of Practice. Mastering SAP Premium Access Membership Required You must be a Mastering SAP Premium Access member to access this content.Join NowAlready a member?…