A brief look into how a fashion company can provide best-in-class experience by anticipating and proactively responding to customer needs.

1. 03
Fashion
Insider
16Small and Midsize
Companies: The
Digital Transformation
Imperative
A brief look into how a fashion company can provide
best-in-class experience by anticipating and proactively
responding to customer needs.
Enabling the Intelligent
Fashion Company
Digital

2. 02
Fashion
Insider
Digital

3. 03
Enabling the Intelligent
Fashion Company
Table of Contents:
06
Small and Midsize Companies:
The Digital Transformation Imperative
18
30
Early Adopters of S/4HANA for Fashion:
Trends and Market Insights
16
Demystifying S/4HANA for Fashion and
Vertical Business
24
Assessing the Move to SAP S/4HANA:
Building the Business Case

4. 04

5. 05
Fashion in the digital age as we
know demands speed – whether
interacting with customers,
bringing new products to market,
expanding into new geographies or
driving operational efficiencies, and
that means the advantage goes to
brands and companies who are
most responsive, agile and
accommodating.

6. 06
Every element of fashion retail – from
manufacturing to supply, marketing, and
sales – is geared toward overtaking
today’s high-speed consumers. Up close
is the only place to be and from here,
retailers can adjust to shoppers’ pace,
and drive their merchandising activities
across the entire product lifecycle from
design to manufacturing in far-flung
factories, from ship to store, from
opening price to final markdown, in
every channel.
Retailers are also faced by the
complexities of building a global
business, across established and
emerging markets where consumers
know no boundaries. Retailers are
increasingly capitalizing on the
‘globalization’ opportunity to extend
their brand beyond the web and existing
stores, to set up shop in new markets
around the globe. The successful
execution of global expansion today,
however, requires that traditionally siloed
retail functions operate in harmony to
improve business performance and meet
the demands of today’s savvy shopper.
Style might travel, but domestic
operational and supply chain models
simply don’t work internationally, forcing
retailers to create new processes that
are often unprofitable.
With brand loyalty weakening, and
business performance hinged on how
efficiently consumers are served, fashion
companies have two choices:
re-innovate their fashion retail value
chain from supply chains, to marketing,
to logistics to better sense, respond and
align with changing customer demands,
or run the risk of losing market share
while competitors forge ahead.
As the retail environment shifts, forward
thinking retailers recognize that the
strategic integration of key entities
across the business — wholesale, retail
and manufacturing — around the globe,
is paramount to long term success.
Well-known brands pursuing this
approach are already seeing early
benefits from it by adopting technology
models and platforms that integrate their
processes in a way that boosts revenue
and margins. By integrating these
entities, retailers are armed with
intelligent, real time information,
equipped to make holistic, strategic
decisions, no matter where they are
located.
Based on our experience working with
global fashion brands, we've identified 3
strategic areas fashion companies can
build long term success by removing
siloes and shifting towards an integrated
platform, designed to support all the
individual facets of a fashion retail
environment.
Enabling the Intelligent
Fashion Company

7. 07
Few industries call for companies to stay
as agile and on their toes as the global
apparel business. At a baseline level,
there is the fast-moving nature of
fashion, which entails companies to leap
on trends right away, never taking the
follower approach. That alone gives the
apparel business a unique set of
challenges.
Today, additional dynamics are stirring
the pot. Apparel consumers not only
want to see a level of newness in their
products, but also in the entire shopping
experience. As is the case across many
industries, shoppers increasingly want
brands to speak to them with the same
level of consistency, whether they are
online or browsing in a store.
Over the last few years, we’ve also seen
several smaller entrants, both online and
offline, quickly bringing their brand name
to a global scale. A popular German
based online retailer, for instance, has
expanded its convenient, no-cost
shipping, no-hassle returns brand of
ecommerce to 15 countries in just six
years and a fast growing sportswear
company in the US has tripled its
revenue in the past five years.
For fashion players, the next 5 years will
be a year of awakening. To succeed,
fashion companies must come to terms
with the fact that in the new paradigm
that is taking shape around them, some
of the old rules simply don’t work.
Regardless of size and segment, fashion
The potential for global expansion is greater than ever because of the new flexibility in
routes to market. Fashion retailers can use a number of channels and partnerships to
explore new territories – from opening new stores, franchises, or department store
concessions to launching e-commerce sites and online marketplaces. Acquisitions, joint
ventures, distribution deals, and wholesale operations can also provide opportunities for
expansion.
While all of these routes present opportunities for revenue growth, they will prove
successful only if retailers can generate profit, and that means responding to market
conditions. To succeed in new territories, retail operations must be sustainable, while
supply chains must be fast and flexible to adapt within a customer engagement
strategy. Any attempt to simply “lift and shift” domestic operating models can lead to
challenges when entering new markets such as:
Local taxation
Legal and compliance framework
Language
Currency
Cultural difference
Lack of local knowledge
companies now need to be nimble, think
digital-first and achieve ever-faster
speed to market.
01Building A Global
Intelligent Fashion
Business
What can fashion
companies do today to be
among tomorrow's
winners?

8. 08
Overall, brands and retailers must consider
the added pressure and complication placed
on their current operating networks by global
expansion, and how this could potentially
impact their ability to deliver promptly and
serve customer needs in existing – as well as
new – markets. Rather than trying to make a
square peg fit into a round hole, fashion
houses must focus on dynamic ways to
engage consumers. This relies on bringing the
data and processes currently available into
consistent, integrated working practices. This
creates the platform on which to develop
tailored models for each region. The visibility
created by this integrated model also
facilitates fast approvals, updates, and
management of key information, through
which fashion retailers can respond efficiently
to market conditions and demands.
Many retailers worry that tailoring their
offering to individual regions erodes their
international brand identity, as their brand
value and proposition are translated
Web trading communities, drop-ship model, and real-time
communications
Overcoming these barriers to entry raises a number of fundamental questions for fashion brands including:
Are any of these barriers cost prohibitive in the markets we’re targeting?
Which channels are we going to pursue for our entry strategy?
Could we benefit from working with a partner as our market-entry model?
What supply chain and logistics infrastructure will be needed to enable commerce?
Which systems will be required to support operational and customer-facing activity?
Is our strategy scalable for long-term prosperity in this region?
differently in new markets. However,
integrating operational systems to produce
one set of master data enables fashion
houses to adopt a global/local approach,
giving shoppers a “best of both worlds”
experience.
On a global scale, having complete inventory
visibility and a total customer overview allows
retailers to stay connected in their activities –
essential for cohesion and common brand
identity. But being able to mine data in each
market also permits them to understand local
conditions to create experiences that engage
with consumers while maintaining
international brand integrity. Using a
cloud-based solution to start in new markets
limits risk, while providing the flexibility to run
as fast as needed, depending on the
opportunities available. It also presents the
agility to build a roadmap for long-term
success, so that fashion retailers can adapt or
scale operations as their brand grows
overseas.
Enabling Intelligent Global Operations
Business function Solutions
Supplier relationships
Global inventory visibility, customs compliance, store as distribution
center (DC), DC as store, and endless aisle
Global supply chain
Wholesale, franchise, concession, online marketplace,
online direct, and pop-up shops
Channel hybrids
Inventory visibility, available to ship, shopper marketing, and
store-to-online connection
Multichannel merchandising
Digital engagement in store, electronic shelf-edge label, digital
promotion, and responsive advertising
Customer insight

9. 09
02Digitizing Faster
Fashion
Faster fashion relies on efficiency and
agility at each stage of the journey, from
runway to rails. What once seemed
simple for retailers – sell well-designed
clothing to lots of people – has become
very complex. Being able to understand
the customer enough to respond to and
even preempt their needs is clearly the
biggest challenge facing retailers right
now. For fashion retailers, the challenge
is even greater, because the decisions
made in the design studio will take an
entire sales cycle to pay off or fail.
To squeeze every drop of profit from
stock, fashion retailers need agility and
responsiveness in manufacturing, supply
chain, merchandising, and promotion.
The answer is not to add more
complexity, but to refine the process,
make it smarter, faster, and simpler.
Unfortunately, most retail organizations
lack the holistic view of their customers
to fully understand and react to
customers’ needs - resulting in missed
opportunities to forge better
relationships with them.
Multiple agendas
Multiple versions of the truth
Multiple pools of disintegrated point technology that cannot
serve the overall goals of the business
Insight delivered after the opportunity has gone
Currently, retailers are battling with the consequences
of siloed operations, which involve:

10. 10
Brands are now almost continuously designing,
introducing, and fading ranges.
Consumers are buying fashion not only by season,
but by occasion and even by mood. They are
matching luxury items with mass-market garments
that have a shorter shelf life.
The Complexity of a Retail Market Run by Consumers
Challenge Change Impact
Multiseason
In addition to merchandising core ranges, fashion
clothing brands are increasingly extending into
housewares, branded merchandising, footwear,
and ranges unique to a single channel.
Tightly managed and protected names can soon
unravel if the brand promise is broken through
these extensions.
Multiproduct
Retailers are operating online, offline, wholesale,
franchise, and by mail order. Each channel has its
own unique requirements, often with individual
processes, systems, and business goals.
Customers want to shop seamlessly across and
between touch points, starting from one point and
ending at another.
Multichannel
The range of delivery and fulfillment options is
increasing, reflecting the variation in consumer
demands.
Retailers are rethinking profit options – if I deliver
this item to a loyal customer but lose all my profit
on the deal, will I win in the longer term by
keeping their business? Can my current IT system
answer the question fast enough to determine
whether the customer is worth the investment?
Multifulfillment
Customers want to be served in flexible ways,
making it harder to stereotype or pigeonhole
behavior.
Retailers are losing business not necessarily as a
result of bad service, but because they can’t read
customers, and therefore aren’t hitting the mark.
Multiservice

11. As evident in the previous illustration,
decision-makers are impeded by barriers
such as customer data silos, poor data
quality and misaligned business
strategies - preventing them from
developing a comprehensive view of
each customer. This thwarts any effort to
deliver the right experience to the right
person at the right time. The outcome –
a disjointed customer experience.
Executives seeking to build highly unified
and unique customer experiences are
left immobilized as a result, requiring a
fast and innovative platform that can
engineer exceptional consumer intimacy
moments in real time - not only on the
path to purchase but also throughout the
longer arc of a customer/brand
relationship. When carefully coordinated
and synchronized, these moments help
drive brand preference and cultivate
brand advocates in a time of otherwise
diminishing customer loyalty.
Smart retailers are tackling these
problems by building an integrated
model for management, where IT is a
true enabler. They are creating this
model not departmentally but centrally,
to ensure that IT, operations, and
marketing are equipped with the right
data and tools to strengthen customer
relationships.
By integrating the process and ensuring
each element works toward a common
goal, an integrated business model helps
11
fashion companies in the following way:
Marketing leverages insight to
understand the customer better so it can
improve promotions in-store and online.
Operations, e-commerce, and supply
chain are empowered by data that
enables them to manage orders and
deliver better across all channels. IT is
able to control all data across every
channel so it can deliver value back to
the business.
Rather than worrying that the weight of
existing systems and hundreds of
interfaces will slow them down, retailers
can manage their costs and risks by
using a suite of integrated solutions in
the cloud to drive expansion into new
markets. With this model, wholesale,
store, e-commerce, and franchise
operations can work on a single, vertical
platform accessing the same master
data, global inventory, and processes.
An integrated model has agility built in,
enabling mixed models to achieve
different goals, depending on where the
retailer is on its growth curve. The most
successful fashion brands and retailers
use the flexibility of their integrated
solution to manage models operating at
different speeds and multiple season
types. This flexibility creates the capacity
to run a global business with a
heightened level of dynamism – to meet
the unique demands of customers in
each market. Where an individual retailer
or brand starts its technology journey
should depend on where they are on
their business journey. For instance, a
fashion brand looking for growth in new
territories may want to get a big reach
while mitigating risks and costs, and so it
will start online before thinking about
physical stores. For others, meanwhile,
the focus may be on sourcing,
procurement, and manufacturing to
boost margin through optimization of
these processes.
In both these cases, the retailer requires
a software solution that helps build the
blocks of faster fashion, so it can take
customers wherever they want their
journey to go.

12. 12
Risk is still the adrenaline that the
fashion industry runs on today, but it has
become highly managed. The economic
uncertainty of recent years has reduced
parameters to the point where, for some
fashion brands, the best option has
become to take no risks at all.
In today’s consumer-driven retail
environment, however, risk aversion
could lead to fashion houses falling
behind their bolder rivals.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, so
the traditional saying goes, and sourcing
and planning are the critical preparation
points for fashion retailers. At this stage,
making the wrong decision can
significantly impact sales margins. What
makes planning even riskier is that many
fashion houses must balance two
aspects of their business.
Up until recently, all a retailer had to
worry about was accomplishing
fulfilment in their brick-and-mortar
stores. Keeping their shelves stocked
was the most important concern, which
typically entailed a retailer ordering in
bulk, placing trust in their merchandise
plan to meet customer demand. This
simple setting no longer exists. Driven
by omni-channel shoppers, and the
eagerness of retailers to cater to this
demand, the linear consumer buying
journey has exploded into varied
scenarios, covering all touch points –
both physical and online.
The issue of managing multiple
channels, in particular, has changed
planning and sourcing dynamics. Yet
many fashion retailers are still using
legacy business tools, siloed approaches,
or outdated allocation calculations, none
of which are optimizing the provisions of
Retail merchandise planning: Today,
fashion retailers are trying to
reconcile increasingly faster fashion
cycles and derive a successful
assortment plan. To add to the
complexity, they are operating
across multiple channels, which
have the potential to compete
against each other rather than work
in harmony.
Retailer wholesale planning: In
addition, a large number of fashion
retailers are trying to balance retail
with wholesale demand. This
balance not only controls brand
image and quality, but creates
opportunities for increasing revenue
and margin – provided the right mix
is achieved.
03Unification of
Channels
stock in each channel. Against this
backdrop, lack of real-time visibility
across internal and external sources
remains the primary issue, acting as a
barrier to feed this information into
planning and forecasting processes – an
imperative in a world characterized by
complex consumer patterns. This is
especially true since such data can help
improve assortments regionally and
globally, enhance forecast accuracy and
in the long-run, make smarter decisions
that align more closely with consumer
demand.
This lack of visibility causes a ripple
effect across the business, shaping the
way a retailer responds to rapidly
changing market conditions. Today’s
supply chain models fall short in meeting
this new need, resulting in continued
stock outs and markdown levels.

13. 13
Needless to say, shoppers are now demanding retailers to
facilitate several purchase opportunities across all sales channels,
whether it’s on a mobile app or website. This has sparked the
need for a supply chain redesign in order to meet this new
pattern of consumer demand, and the fulfillment opportunities it
has created.
While some companies are still figuring out the infrastructure to
enable in-store pickup of online orders, faster moving retailers
have leapt10 steps ahead by expanding to “ship from store” for
online orders, “same-day delivery”, and even ship directly from
the distribution center to a customer’s home. This has ushered
in a new fulfilment model, rendering stores no longer the only
commerce destination for customers. To better execute on this
fulfilment options, investments need to be made to solve the
ultimate retail challenge: delivering the right product, in the right
color and size, in the right channel, at the right time, exactly
where the customer wants it, and available in the right quantity.
Legacy systems increase the risk of fashion brands putting stock
in the wrong channel at the wrong time. Not only that, but
retailers lack the visibility to detect an issue until the end of the
trading period when each channel releases products back in to
the business – increasing the likelihood of markdowns.
Overcoming the great
channel challenge
Scenario ActionRisk
Compare demand, prices, and margin
against in-store stock and determine what
inventory reallocation position to take.
Stock runs out online. E-commerce team
demands stock from other channels,
which will be sold at a lower price.
Web site running a promotion not
available in store or through wholesalers
Make the best decision on margin and
image, using insight into demand and
individual customer value across channels.
Allocating to retail channels starves
wholesaler availability, which could
damage your brand’s reputation in the
eyes of the wholesaler’s customers.
Only enough stock available from supplier
to meet one channel’s demand
Prioritize order fulfillment based on
customer value and image protection.
Process returns from late deliveries quicker
to fulfill subsequent orders.
Over-promotion leads to demand
superseding the supply chain or
distribution capacity, resulting in late
delivery.
Major promotions such as Black Friday
and Cyber Monday
Determine the right strategy for order
reduction or additional distribution to protect
or optimize margin and brand image.
There is too much stock for the shorter
than-anticipated selling season.
Late delivery from the supplier

14. For fashion houses that want to increase
revenue through planning and sourcing,
there are two fundamental steps toward
achieving success:
With these two fundamental steps
accomplished, fashion retailers have the
approach and the tools in place to
execute accurate plans – and take
bigger risks as a result.
14
Stop thinking and acting in siloes:
Change is impossible without
reforming attitudes and actions of
personnel to integrate across
channels and departments.
Put the right technology solution in
place: No amount of collaboration
can overcome legacy systems.
Deploy the technology necessary to
facilitate cross-channel visibility,
integration and unification of
planning, sourcing, and supply.
Better planning starts by taking a step
backward to sourcing. Fashion retailers
must know the quantity and availability
from the supplier to decide the channel
and location to which garments should
be allocated. Unifying planning and
sourcing is the foundation of
omnichannel retail, as this total visibility
and cooperation enables fashion brands
to calculate risk based on the complete
picture – not half the view. This cannot
be done with legacy systems that are
focused on a single channel.
Once unification of planning and
sourcing has been achieved, fashion
retailers then need to establish a
complete view of fulfillment activities –
inventory, order management, and
replenishment – across all their channels.
By creating this complete view, they can
determine the most profitable course of
action and close supply chain gaps.
The theory that competition between
channels is a business stimulant no
longer holds up. Today, retailers want to
better calculate risk – and be rewarded
for that ability. In the fashion
environment, retailers are unifying
planning and sourcing through
technology solutions to more accurately
calculate risk and make decisions that
increase profits across the supply cycle
based on this insight – as the above
scenarios demonstrate.
Successful fashion retailers today are
playing a value, not a volume, game.
Rather than blindly pushing stock
through siloed channels, they are
unifying their planning and sourcing
through technology to optimize margins
holistically across their business. And
while discounting is inevitable in retail,
for those retailers using unifying
technology solutions, their discounting is
controlled – not the consequence of bad
decisions.

15. 15
No industry - digital or otherwise - is immune
to disruption. Retail enterprises unable to
adopt end-to-end innovations, owing to rigid
core systems risk losing their competitive
edge. Enterprises must look beyond digitizing
peripheral processes and transform their core
to align with front-end innovations.

16. We’ve been working with a number of fashion customers across
the globe, each representing a broad spectrum of use cases
from Large Enterprises and SMEs to existing SAP clients and net
new accounts.
16
Early Adopters
of S/4HANA for Fashion:
Trends and
Market Insights
This report sheds light on the trends in the marketplace,
especially on how early adopters are handling their S/4HANA for
Fashion transformation projects.
Adoption of S/4HANA for Fashion
and Vertical Business
Accessories
Footwear
Sportswear
Apparel
Industry Coverage
of Current
S/4HANA for
Fashion
Implementations
North
America
APAC
In Europe, is gradually catching up
While adoption in
an increasing rate of companies
are making the move to
S/4HANA
is rapidly growing,
mainly in the
manufacturing area

17. 17
Need for a unified platform to facilitate
fast growth and potential acquisitions
Building a Reference Solution - a best
practice-driven global template for blueprint
planning
Helps validate new processes prior to implementation
Minimizes risk by accelerating resumption of daily
operations and reducing business interruptions
Helps plan, prepare and conduct the blueprint,
improving delivery quality and expediting the timeline
Leveraging a proven and tested S/4HANA accelerator –
which delivers all the benefits of SAP S/4HANA Fashion with
pre-configured functionality
Need for a modern, digital-core for
omni-channel visibility and better
inventory management.
Need for a robust digital platform to
adopt best practices across
geographies and meet increasing
consumer demands
Top Reasons for Making the Move to S/4HANA
cited by Early Adopters
Common Approaches to Migrating to S/4HANA
Business Coverage of Current S/4HANA for
Fashion Implementations
Retail
Omni-Commerce
ManufacturingWholesale
For Large Enterprises
How does this approach
help companies?
For Small-to-Medium Enterprises
How does this approach
help companies?
Minimizes internal resource requirements and effort by
integrating leading practices already preconfigured for
rapid deployment
Delivers a subscription-based model, allowing fashion
retailers to take advantage of a full enterprise solution
while saving on upfront cost

18. 18
Small and Midsize
Companies: The Digital
Transformation
Imperative
Compete more
effectively against
bigger businesses
Large retailers are losing
market share, and those
consumers are up for
grabs. While that’s a
positive trend for SME
retailers, their technology
may not be up to par with
meeting those consumers’
demands.
When compared to their much-larger
rivals, two distinct advantages small and
midsize companies can leverage are
their size and simplicity. Smaller firms
have the innate ability to fully adopt
technology investments quickly while
staying laser-focused on the
improvements that will determine
implementation success. And for the
most part, this mindset has served them
well. However, while simple technology
implementations and near-term results
can generate strong results, it is also
possible to be too short-sighted.
Opting for point solutions is a common
practice among midsize retailers.
However, the accelerated innovation
and digital transformation in today’s
retail landscape presents an uncharted
territory and has taken a considerable
toll on these technologies. New market
forces are creating the need for greater
speed, effectiveness, and the ability to
adapt by executing strategies that best
those of their competitors and
fast-moving market entrants.
One outdated attribute that is hindering
this approach are the siloed systems
from the pre-digital transformation era
that many small and midsize fashion
companies still operate on. Among the

19. 19
Value of Digital Transformation
shortcomings of this set-up are lack of real-time or
accurate insights due to the time taken to merge
the data together, limited inventory visibility to
orchestrate order fulfillment orders, high integration
costs, additional specialized software to achieve
modest visibility across channels, and recurring
expenses due to the maintenance of multiple
systems.
Consequently, fashion brands resort to the gradual
tweaking of their existing systems, adopting
workarounds to complex problems within their IT
infrastructure, and executing piecemeal integrations
between separate sales channels. While such
approaches do of course deliver some results, it is
quickly becoming clear that a radical re-thinking of
the current systems and processes is required in
order to become more nimble, grow, and compete
with much larger counterparts. The challenge now
is to tie everything together and introduce an
integrated end-to-end solution that delivers speed,
scalability, real-time insights, and superior customer
experience.
Although it is widely accepted and
increasingly understood as a
matter of survival, most digital
transformation efforts are still in
their infancy. A recent global report
from IDC reveals that over 42% of
small and midsized companies
worldwide are undergoing a digital
transformation program. Yet, only
7% have gone one step further to
optimize processes that yield
business results, leaving the rest
in dire need to catch up.
Our digital transformation efforts
allow us to compete more
effectively with large companies
Our digital transformation
efforts make it easier to
attract and retain talent
Our digital transformation
efforts have increased our
profitability
Our digital transformation
efforts allow us to enter new
markets
Our digital transformation
efforts have increased our
market share
Digitization has already given some small and midsize companies a competitive edge
$100m-$249.9 $250m-$499.9 $500m-$999.9 $1bn+
55%
47% 49% 47%
29%
37%
43%
50%
45%
54%
66%
52%
57% 57%
50%
59% 60%
55%
60%
70%
Source: The Digital Transformation Executive Study, Oxford Economics

20. Key Insights to
Drive Digital
Transformation
20
Digital transformation is increasingly
understood as a matter of survival for
small and midsize companies.
Most are planning to make the
sweeping, technology-driven
organizational changes that define digital
transformation, and a growing majority
say these adjustments will be essential
to their competitiveness in the
near future.
The following point of view details some
of the most significant opportunities
small and midsize companies can
leverage to compete with bigger
retailers, and illustrates how they can
equip themselves better to successfully
navigate the digital economy.
Although SMEs regard revenue growth, cash-flow improvement and cost reduction as
top priorities, focusing on consumer experiences can deliver significant opportunities to
strike the right notes on your business' growth agenda.
Consider the industry today: long-established retailers are closing their brick-and-mortar
stores to fortify their stance against heightened competition from e-tailers. Meanwhile,
consumers are demanding greater speed and ease, putting retailers saddled with legacy
systems at great risk. This growing rate of digitally-savvy consumers calls for a
consumer-first mindset.
01 Compete on customer
experience, not price or size

21. 21
The data is clear: traditional retail is under siege and the sting is
mostly being felt across small and midsized fashion businesses.
Retail is now veering towards building an omni-commerce
customer experience - a trend that is quickly becoming the
norm for fashion retailers. At the core lies the concept of unifying
online and in-store into a single, seamless offering - with the
agility to adjust inventory levels across both.
By unifying channels, brands are able to get in-demand products
into the hands of consumers regardless of touch point and in
some cases, intelligently source inventory from another location
to meet demand for out-of-stock products at the store. Instead
of perceiving this shift as a risk, mid-sized retailers should be
emboldened by the new trend and seize the opportunities it
presents.
These questions give executives a very restricted view of their
technology investment. As a result, mid-sized retailers tend to
invest in targeted solutions, thereby missing out on opportunities
to reduce costs in other areas, become more competitive in the
digital economy or serve customers in a new way.
02 Think long-term growth
by investing in technology
that can meet immediate
and future needs
This viewpoint is not without merit as midsize retailers cannot
compete with bigger retailers on endless aisles of product
choice. Instead, they should be hyper-focused on driving fully
responsive storefronts through a concerted effort of integrating
inventory, customers, and products into a single view to attract
new shoppers and build long-lasting relationships – digital and
physical – wherever the shoppers are.
Research reveals that
technology expectations of
SMEs are often not strategic
enough to meet growing retail
demands. Fixated on the same
approach, most boardroom
executives ask the same
questions year over year:
“Which changes will lower
operational costs?” or “How
can we increase revenue?”

22. For smaller retailers, the lure of
technology can be a double-edged
sword. Adopting new technologies can
be harrowing with concerns over time
taken to train resources, high costs, and
constant maintenance and optimization.
However, recent statistics show drastic
changes in retail. Sales per square foot
are declining, the industry is plagued by
bankruptcies and store closures, retailers
are rethinking their strategies in
fulfillment points, new players are rapidly
disrupting the industry and overtaking
established retailers, and e-tailers are
expanding into brick-and-mortar
channels. These trends are a powerful
warning for businesses that are
apprehensive about digital
transformation - inaction can only deter
company growth. Opportunity in today's
industry lies extensively on how
companies leverage their own digital
transformation to seize it.
The key to succeeding in the digital
economy is to start transforming your
business before your revenues and sales
volume decline. With digital technology,
retail brands are able to streamline
operations to fulfill orders from
anywhere, and more importantly, gain
insights into customer’s needs. This
places mid-sized businesses on equal
footing with larger, more established
brands, as brands will have the agility
and backend infrastructure to maintain a
pulse on every consumer dynamic with
the capability to swoop in and meet
their demands.
Looking back at the IDC research, it’s
encouraging to see that 49% of retail
executives believe that new processes
and advanced digital technologies have
helped free up resources and enable
business growth. Furthermore, 56.8%
agree that new technology solutions
have allowed them to begin or continue
revising their workflow and processes to
streamline operations and improve
productivity.
22
It's clear that an end-to-end, digital platform is not a “nice to have” – it’s about survival.
If mid-sized companies don't start on their transformation journey now, they may miss
out on significant opportunities to expand operations, gain new customers and
strengthen brand loyalty.
Yet, as important as it is to have a robust end-to-end platform, it is equally important to
choose the right one that can meet all your business goals in the present and future.
Here's what companies should look for:
There is an indisputable shift in how mid-sized businesses are turning to advanced
technologies, which was once regarded as too expensive, too complex, and only
focused on large enterprises. This new crop of digital technologies has dramatically
reduced the budget, time and complexity needed to store and manage data while
accelerating and simplifying data exploration.
With cloud deployment models in particular, small and midsize businesses can afford
technologies that were once reserved for large enterprises without accruing
03 Choose the right
technology to grow revenue
and keep costs down
One platform for all channels instead of multiple systems for
dramatic simplification and cost reduction
A single pool of inventory for optimal usage of inventory that helps
reduce safety stock and retail stock-outs while increasing customer
service, inventory turns and profitability
Harmonized processes and one set of master data across retail,
wholesale and e-commerce to reduce silos, improve data accuracy
and simplify running a global vertical business
Enterprise access to meaningful insights across the value chain that
will help drive immediate value by providing the capability to capitalize
on the full potential of an opportunity or offset the full impact of an
emerging risk quickly.
Omnichannel order orchestration capabilities to satisfy the customer’s
desire to buy from any channel. In case of in-store stock-outs, the
ideal platform should help brands profitably and intelligently source
inventory from another in-stock location, regardless of the channel.

23. 23
The concerns relating to new
technologies raised by mid-sized players
are valid and transitions can be
challenging - especially since digital
transformation calls for a new way of
working. However, size is one of the key
competitive differentiators where SMEs
have an advantage over larger
competitors.
This statement rings true as uncovered
in the IDC survey: around 40.8% of retail
executives cite their size as an
advantage over larger companies that
are less able to take advantage of digital
innovation in a timely manner. The
inherent flexibility helps mid-sized
retailers be better prepared in altering
operations and meeting rapidly-evolving
needs quickly, especially when it comes
to exploiting gaps and seizing
opportunities in the marketplace.
Agility is an SME strength, owed to its
flatter organization structure, shorter
04 Leverage the
flexibility of being small
Digital transformation
is not a destination,
it's a process
unmanageable costs. According to the IDC report, more than 80% of surveyed
executives worldwide believe that implementing and adopting digital is either easier
than they thought or required the same level of effort and budget that they initially
expected. Furthermore, 49.3% of decision makers believe that technology levels the
playing field for small businesses versus larger corporations.
chains of command and, typically, less organizational complexity due to fewer products,
services, locations and business units when compared to their large counterparts. This
smaller footprint allows for digital transformation to impact the entire company faster,
with minimum disruptions in operations and sales. Consequently, CIOs can focus on
creating a “transparent technology platform”, where all lines of business can see, make
decisions and work with the same data, freeing up IT resources to reimagine better
ways to create greater value from their technology investments.
It's clear that even though digital transformation programs are being initiated by many
SMEs, it's still in its rudimentary stages. The key to winning in the digital retail economy
is to keep every piece of existing and new technology connected to a digital core
throughout the infrastructure and across your business network. This way, processes
from merchandising to sourcing to store and e-commerce operations - all underpinned
on a foundation of unified data - can be executed seamlessly on a robust platform.

24. Answers to the Most Frequently
Asked Questions on S/4HANA
for Fashion and Vertical
Business
24
Demystifying S/4HANA
for Fashion and
Vertical Business
For apparel, footwear and fashion
companies looking to implement SAP
S/4HANA for Fashion and Vertical
Business, the move creates a long list of
questions that need consideration.
As a result of our involvement with the
S/4HANA for Fashion and Vertical
Business solution, we’ve received many
questions and inquiries from executives
in the industry. Below, we have
compiled answers to a number of
frequently asked questions, covering
business case value, integration and IT
architecture.

25. 25
The greater the integration and
harmonization of different channels, the
easier for fashion companies to
transform and innovate their processes
to remain competitive.
S/4HANA for Fashion and Vertical
Business brings a higher degree of
synchronization across different areas of
the business, helping brands achieve a
level of simplicity to keep operating at
the speed of fashion itself.
01What are the significant business benefits of
moving to SAP S/4HANA for Fashion and
Vertical Business? Especially for those who
recently implemented a new ERP system?
Simplification
SAP S/4HANA’s Fiori-based UI is
designed specifically to be highly
intuitive, personalized, responsive, and
simple; and allows users to prompt
questions and access required details,
regardless of device or deployment. This
allows an organization to evolve and
eventually drive new revenue such as
connect with customers at a deeper
level, and most importantly, gain
relevant insights in real-time, supporting
quick decision making.
Ease of use
S/4HANA enables improved
performance by allowing you to plan,
execute, generate reports and analytics
based on live data. It also enables a
fashion company to provide better
service for customer-centric applications,
leveraging democratized data access.
Increased
performance
Adopting S/4HANA improves cost
efficiency. Businesses can bring together
the analytical and transactional
capabilities of several systems onto one
location, reducing total cost of
ownership.
Cost
effectiveness
Enterprises must stay ahead of the
curve and make decisions that are
sustainable in the future. SAP S/4HANA
sets the stage for future innovation by
leveraging speed, context and data
accessibility via S/4HANA Cloud - a
platform which enables organizations to
deliver innovative solutions, thereby
widening the capabilities offered by
S/4HANA.
Innovation

26. 26
Easily meet the unique requirements
that are specific to the fashion industry
02If I'm a pure play fashion retailer,
should I go with SAP S/4HANA for
Retail or SAP S/4HANA for Fashion
and Vertical Business?
The two solutions share foundational functionalities such as
Master Data, Season Management, and Value-Added Services.
However, there are key differences between the two, other than
the Manufacturing component. The most important
differentiation is stock segmentation and supply assignment in
SAP S/4HANA for Fashion and Vertical Business, which offers
significant value.
Using stock segmentation on SAP S/4HANA for Fashion, you
can order materials of different quality levels, for different
customer channels, and from different countries of origin. This
way, you can easily manage supply with greater visibility into
stock, separated by channels.
Supply Assignment (ARun) ensures that the stock is
assigned to orders according to the changing
requirements. In a supply shortage situation, supply
assignment ensures an optimal assignment of supply
by checking stock availability when the demand or
supply situation in the order fulfillment process has
changed and reconfirm if previously calculated
confirmations for sales orders or stock transport orders
are still realistic. This is done using multiple
confirmation strategies to minimize losses due to
inventory stock-outs, protect customer interests and
ensure strategic customers always get served.
Some of the key
benefits include:
Implement rules to segment stock with predefined
logical characteristics such as retail or wholesale
sales channels or physical characteristics such as
quality grade or country of origin.
Leverage these characteristics when executing a
number of processes such as order promising and
order allocation.

27. 03What's the difference
between S/4HANA for
Fashion and Vertical
Business and SAP
Fashion Management?
27
To respond to these new market
dynamics, SAP Fashion Management
solution was tailored accordingly —
appealing to the customer across all
channels, while also keeping a constant
eye on the international market. But this
was over three years ago and since
that time, additional requirements have
come into play. These have been
integrated into the S/4HANA for
Fashion and Vertical Business solution to
offer a set of new capabilities for fashion
companies:
The Principle of One: S/4HANA offers a single solution for any given business
requirement. Previous versions of SAP ERP contained multiple transactions for any
particular business process. S/4HANA simplifies the application landscape as well as
the architecture to deliver greater speed and efficiency while driving down the total
cost of ownership.
Process: From a process point of view, the two solutions are similar. However, in S/4HANA,
the data structures are further simplified, using more standard functionality, for example aATP
in S/4HANA is offered by bringing ATP, BOP and Order Allocation (Supply Assignment) that
were separate functionalities in SAP FMS.
Fiori: There is a direct link between a user’s experience and their ability to do their work. S/4HANA
was developed, incorporating new developments in Fiori such as reducing the number of screens
in the application, the need to switch between them and the fields essential to each role to
improve user experience, and the productivity of workforce.

28. 04How can fashion companies make the move
to SAP S/4HANA?
There are three ways to move to SAP S/4HANA
Fresh installation (greenfield approach):
Implementation of a new system in line with processes based on SAP’s best practices
28
System conversion (brownfield approach):
Transition to SAP S/4HANA in a manner similar to an upgrade or a migration
Landscape transformation:
Consolidation of an existing SAP ERP landscape, installation of a new SAP S/4HANA system,
or conversion of an existing system

29. 29
From a business value perspective, SAP S/4HANA
creates unique opportunities to reinvent business
models and drive new revenues and profits.
From an IT value perspective, SAP S/4HANA creates
unique opportunities to simplify the landscape and
help reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).
05What are the key benefits for a customer
to move now to SAP S/4HANA from a
business and IT perspective?
Easily connect to people, devices, and
business networks to deliver new value to
customers on any channel – the Internet
of Things and Big Data become accessible
to any business.
Reduce data footprint and work with
larger data sets in one system - merging
Retail, Manufacturing and Wholesale data
in a single ERP, with tight systemic
integration to related systems, such as
CRM, PLM, etc. to save operational costs
and reduce complexity.
Innovation is made simple by leveraging
an open platform (SAP HANA Cloud
Platform) to drive advanced applications –
for example, predicting, recommending,
and simulating – while protecting existing
investments.
Leverage a simple and role-based user
experience based on modern design
principles across all functional areas,
allowing new ways of working for
business users, minimizing training efforts
and increasing productivity.
A choice of deployment: cloud, on
premise, and even support of hybrid
scenarios to drive quick time-to-value
Single set of master data that
dramatically simplifies processes in key
areas such as inventory management
and stock valuation – no more batch
processing required.
Create a truly Live Business: immediate
insights to act in the moment, intelligent
processes that go beyond automation to
predictive suggestion, complete
integration – not only between your
departments, but different verticals.

30. Assessing the Move to
SAP S/4HANA: Building
the Business Case
Common dilemmas facing fashion companies:
30
Given the omni-channel business
model, is my current platform the
right one for the future, can it help
sustain our growth?
S/4HANA sounds interesting but
how will it impact the
customizations and complex
processes in my existing systems?
Will I lose out on the advantage?
How will these carry over to the
new system?
The road map to S/4HANA seems
complicated; where do I start?

31. S/4HANA
Assessment
2/3 day workshop to identify current
business processes.
We will use attune Fashion Suite™ on S/4HANA, our
tried and tested pre-configured solution to playback
up to two of your existing processes.
Potential migration roadmap
options to S/4HANA
Playback of your processes on S/4HANA
Migration Options
4 week engagement with deep dive
workshops and meetings
Summary of findings, recommendations and report of S/4HANA
implementation strategy, deployment options and play back.
The report will also include:
Roadmap and recommended deployment approach
Recommended timeline, resource plan and cost
Suggested internal and external project team roles
A high-level future architecture diagram
Initial gap list with current custom code - modifications,
customizations & enhancements
What’s included
Duration 2-3 Days
Duration 4-6 Weeks
What’s included
Lite Offering Deep Dive Approach
Reporting requirements – high-level
Data objects (catalogue) and source systems
Reports – initial report catalogue including source system
Business process impacts at a high-level based on S/4HANA
functionality
31

32. FashionInsider
Digital
At attune, it is our mission to help fashion
companies drive business transformation
by leveraging SAP technologies, designed
for the fashion and lifestyle industry.
As a trusted advisor to global brands, our
deep domain expertise and exclusive focus
to the fashion and lifestyle industry has led
to a close partnership with SAP, based on
a common goal of innovating and
transforming the way fashion companies
work. As a result, attune has been
extensively involved in SAP’s industry
offerings, working as the co-innovation
partner and collaborator of SAP Fashion
Solutions including SAP S/4HANA for
Fashion and Vertical Business.
As the only SAP partner that is committed
exclusively to the Fashion and Lifestyle
industry, we have a proven track record of
working with global fashion brands and
have the most number of SAP S/4HANA
Fashion and Vertical Business projects in
the SAP ecosystem.
United States, MA
attune Consulting USA Inc.
200 Summit Drive, Suite 230
2nd
Floor South Burlington,
MA 01803, USA
United States, NY
450, 7th
Avenue,
Suite #802, New York, NY 10123, USA
attuneconsulting.com