In the era of the digital revolution, business is no longer just about transactions, but more of an experience. Organisations find themselves under pressure to redefine how they engage and retain consumers.
SAP Africa recently showcased SAP Hybris, its flagship e-commerce and omni-channel solution, at an event held in Cape Town. The aim was to illustrate how industries, including fashion retail businesses, can re-imagine processes and adapt to the new and innovative way of doing things, to survive the competitive market and thrive in the digital economy.
SAP Hybris is a fusion of the latest innovative solutions and is applicable to all small, medium and large businesses regardless of industries. The portfolio includes; Hybris Commerce; Hybris Marketing; Hybris Profile; Hybris Customer Experience and Hybris Billing aimed at retail wholesalers and manufacturers.
By understanding consumer preferences, businesses will be in a better position to offer the right products to the right customers and, in so doing, meet their unique requirements. In addition to this, the digital world of Hybris Omni-channel adds the possibility to establish new, meaningful and instant consumer connections. This modern and scalable architecture gives businesses the flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions and be able to treat each customer as an individual. This fresh experience gives consumers the freedom to position brands and build loyalty.
It is a proven fact that customers who are emotionally connected to a retailer, are more likely to shop there. Through SAP Hybris customers have the flexibility to buy, fulfil, and return merchandise using an integrated order management system. Retailers benefit from SAP Hybris, in that it facilitates accelerated global expansion because of the seamless integration across markets and geographies.
Paul McKane, industry value engineer for consumer products at SAP Africa, comments: “With SAP Hybris, we are now able to provide consumers with an exceptionally rich, personalised digital experience across multiple platforms, including mobile. Businesses and consumers can now get connected in ways never possible and in real time with total visibility of product stock levels.”
The goal for SAP Hybris is to bring all business operations onto a single platform to enable faster merchandising, generate stronger loyalty and to easily adapt to global business practices while increasing revenues, margin and efficiency.
“We have continued to drive the industry-leading commerce platform forward with integrated enterprise customer experience management tools, improved customer service solutions, and a new, robust omni-channel promotions capability. At SAP we placed a strategic focus on the need to integrate commerce with sales, service, and marketing to drive simpler, personalised and compelling consumer experiences with advance customer engagement while helping customer to simplify their technology landscape,” concludes McKane.
The solution was launched at an elite event attended by customers, retailers, influencers and fashion bloggers in South Africa. The event also showcased how digital can blend with physical across multiple channels such online, mobile, point-of-sale, call centre, social media, and print.
