A leading Southeast Asian retailer managing several prominent global brands recently aimed to consolidate data across its extensive portfolio. This initiative was designed to enhance the monitoring of end-to-end sales and supply chain operations, particularly during critical peak periods like Black Friday and the year-end sales season. However, data extraction from SAP, the cornerstone of the retailer’s ERP system, posed significant challenges due to its inflexible architecture. The system orchestrates promotions, pricing, allocation of new merchandise to outlets, and management of inventory replenishment. Business users depended on SAP's internal BI tools, necessitating extensive manual data manipulation in Excel. The process of generating sales and inventory reports was cumbersome, involving multiple steps of data extraction, alignment, and complex spreadsheet creation, resulting in a labor-intensive and error-prone operation.

Building a Data Lakehouse with Fivetran and BigQuery

In 2023, the retailer harnessed the capabilities of Fivetran and Google Cloud to create a cutting-edge data platform that enhanced data integration, relying on Fivetran’s data integration platform to replicate data from systems like Magento and SAP into Google BigQuery. The focus was on extracting data from SAP HANA, utilizing Fivetran’s change data capture (CDC) technology for real-time data transfer to Google Cloud Cortex. This strategy enabled the development of advanced data models and the implementation of real-time reporting features. Adopting Fivetran was the critical first step for the retailer in setting up an efficient data lakehouse on Google Cloud with BigQuery and Cortex integrations. This data stack modernization positioned the retailer at the forefront of data-driven strategic decision-making. The retail firm was an early adopter in the private preview of Fivetran's SAP ERP on HANA connector and plans to leverage a unique data integration solution that replicates SAP data in real-time to any destination. Following the implementation of Fivetran coupled with Google Cloud, the company achieved real-time access to sales data, updating as frequently as every five minutes, and comprehensive visibility into inventory levels and the movement of goods across their stores, distribution centers, and online marketplaces.

Enhanced Efficiency and AI-Driven Strategic Initiatives

The impact of this technological enhancement was particularly notable during Black Friday 2023. Retail staff leveraged real-time sales dashboards to adapt swiftly to consumer behavior, contributing to a 32% increase in year-over-year total sales. Moreover, online sales more than doubled, and the company was able to successfully meet both capacity and demand without any complications. As a result, the retailer has achieved significant productivity improvements, realizing a savings of 90 hours per week in workforce productivity across the organization, which amounts to an annual total of 4,680 hours. Building on this efficiency, the company is set to further enhance its capabilities by utilizing Fivetran for the integration of customer data from various touchpoints into Google BigQuery. This strategic move will enable advanced predictive modeling and the deployment of AI-driven applications, enhancing the company’s ability to deliver personalized product recommendations and promotions. Additionally, the technology will improve the identification of top-selling and underperforming items and enable proactive notifications to customers about low-stock and last-piece items through their mobile application. The retailer leveraged Fivetran and Google Cloud technologies to transform its data management infrastructure into a streamlined, efficient, and dynamic framework. By integrating diverse data sources such as SAP and Magento into a centralized data lakehouse on Google Cloud, the company has significantly enhanced its ability to monitor and analyze sales and supply chain data. This robust integration has not only improved real-time data accessibility and transparency across the organization but also led to significant productivity enhancements and operational efficiencies. By adopting advanced data modeling and AI-driven strategies, the company is continually refining its operational tactics and strategic decision-making processes, solidifying its position as a frontrunner in retail management across the region.