The retail industry’s $3.9 trillion contribution to the U.S. annual GDP makes it the nation’s leading industry for private sector employment and uniquely positioned to address climate change.
As recently as the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) meetings, the National Retail Federation (NRF) stated, “Retailers will continue inventing and implementing pragmatic climate change solutions because the needs identified at COP26 demand nothing less.”
To help retailers digitally transform to make their businesses sustainable, SAP is featuring a number of offerings, including these:
- The new SAP Intelligent Returns Management solution was built to optimize the returns process for the retail industry. The solution uses routing and dispositioning decisions driven by artificial intelligence (AI) to guide products from customers’ hands to the final dispositioning steps, ultimately maximizing customer experience and company margins while also mitigating waste.
- The recently updated SAP Assortment Planning application now offers advanced category management capabilities. It uses customer data science, assortment strategies, business rules and AI to plan space-aware, localized assortments with a user experience designed for the needs of today’s category manager. Customer-centric, relevant assortments increase customer loyalty, boost profitability and support a more sustainable supply chain.
- The SAP.iO Foundries program is a network of startup companies with integrations to SAP solutions, including:
- Algramo, offering a circular platform that encourages consumers to buy in a more convenient, affordable way with zero waste and connects people, brands and retailers in an engaging way to change consumption habits
- EcoCart, helping thousands of e-commerce brands offer carbon-neutral products
- Everledger, leveraging blockchain and the Internet of Things to offer transparency into supply chains for clarity on quality, origin, sustainability footprint and compliance standards
- EVRYTHNG, helping customers run their businesses differently with real-time data intelligence from each of their products end to end, from factory to consumer and beyond
- Inspectorio, with a dynamic and risk-assessment-based quality compliance program that provides digitalization, automation, transparency and traceability
- LimeLoop, offering a platform for sustainable shipping including reusable packaging, real-time tracking and predictive analytics
- Specright, providing a purpose-built platform for specification management that fundamentally changes how brands, suppliers, manufacturers and retailers manage data and collaborate to bring products to market
