The document introduces SAP's Customer Activity Repository (SAP CAR) tool. SAP CAR allows retailers to consolidate customer data from various sources to get a single view of customers. It provides insights into customer preferences and behaviors. When combined with SAP HANA, SAP CAR gives retailers real-time sales and inventory data needed to ensure the right products are in the right place. The document states that future installments will provide more details on how SAP CAR improves inventory transparency, reduces out-of-stock items, improves forecasting and pricing, enables personalized experiences, and supports multichannel sales.

1. SIMPLE
TECHNOLOGY
VOLUME 1
INTRODCTION TO SAP CAR
WRITTEN BY MAX GOUGH

2. When we look at the current state of the fashion industry, it becomes clear that
retailers need to analyze patterns quickly and react immediately to ensure that the
right product mix is in the right place, at the right channel, and at the right time.
With today’s staggering amount of enterprise data to sort through, this task has
become increasingly challenging.
The SAP Customer Activity Repository (SAP CAR) empowers retailers with consumer
insights by consolidating customer interactions from stores, online and mobile
channels with insight from social media feedback such as Twitter or Facebook posts.
The information acts as the basis for a “single source of truth” to help retailers
optimize branding, marketing, promotions, pricing, merchandising and inventory
management processes.
SAP CAR is a powerful suite of tools that enables Retail and Fashion Enterprise to
plan and execute business activities based on the customer’s requirements and
consumer behavior. SAP CAR can predict product demand across all retail and sales
channels and when combined with the speed of SAP HANA, it provides the real-time
sales and inventory data information that is so desperately needed. SAP CAR
integrates this information with data on individual customer interactions and
preferences. This enables the Retailers to provide customers with a much better-
personalized brand experience, promoting customer loyalty.
Our series on SAP CAR will delve into its key components and take a deep look at why
this toolset is so important and how it's changing the way retailers in the fashion
space do business.
In our next installments of Simple Technology, we'll look at Real-time Inventory
Transparency, On-shelf Availability to Reduce Out-of-Stock and Lost Sales, Unified
Demand Forecasting and Pricing for Improved Replenishment Strategy, Customer
Insight and Social Intelligence for Personalized Brand Experiences and Promotions
and Multichannel Sales in Real Time for in-store promotions and Just-in-Time
Marketing
IntroductiontoSAPCAR
presented by Max Gough
VP of Business Development, McKinsol Consulting
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