As part of its medium-term business strategy, Descente Ltd., an Osaka-based manufacturer of sports apparel, has deployed several SAP cloud offerings to strengthen its Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) business.
SAP has a strong presence in the fashion retail market, giving customers the platform and solutions that will help meet their industry-specific workflow requirements. In 2019, Indian fashion and textile business Raymond Group chose SAP S/4HANA as its core enterprise solution for the entire value chain, including fabric manufacturing, garments, and retail operations.
Recently, Hela Clothing, a Sri Lankan apparel solutions provider for global brands, also selected the SAP S/4HANA for fashion and vertical business solution to support the digital transformation needed to keep up with constantly changing market conditions.
Meanwhile, several organisations in Japan have also transitioned towards a cloud-based IT environment with the implementation of SAP S/4HANA. In a SAPPHIRE NOW Studio Broadcast titled Journey to the Intelligent Enterprise with Digital Transformation, Tadashi Kanzawa, Senior Vice President and Head of SAP S/4HANA at SAP APJ, shared that they have launched RISE with SAP in the country this year.
Dubbing it as a “very comprehensive way” to implement the intelligent enterprise, Kanzawa stated:
“SAP S/4HANA Cloud is the core of RISE and the BTP, the Business Network and some tools have been practiced. I believe that those solutions will be the platform to implement the intelligent enterprise.”
Among the number of organisations that have adopted RISE with SAP is leading sportswear manufacturer Descente Ltd. By deploying a number of SAP cloud offerings, Descente aims to streamline its core operations and improve the profitability of the business.
Utilising SAP Cloud Offerings to Drive Digital Transformation
Descente Ltd. will focus on strengthening the DTC business by implementing structural reforms in order to improve its profitability. This is according to the company’s medium-term management strategy called “D-Summit 2023,” which was unveiled in 2021.
The company will drive a renewal of core systems by leveraging SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Descente said the reform will help them adapt quickly to consumer trends, and increase the speed and accuracy of management choices across brands, commercial distribution, and group companies.
Additionally, the initiative aims to help the company save costs through standardisation and automation of business operations.
“We need a system that can reduce and improve productivity, so we decided to use SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, which has a proven track record in the apparel manufacturing wholesale and retail industries,” Descente Ltd. said in a statement.
For its apparel manufacturing and wholesale operations, Descente has implemented the SAP S/4HANA for fashion and vertical business solution. Meanwhile, for the retail side of the business, it has adopted SAP S/4HANA Retail for merchandise management.
Descente Ltd. noted that the adoption of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition will help them centrally manage their wholesale, retail, and e-commerce business data.
“We aim to strengthen our management base by controlling returns and discounts by controlling production volume and further reducing inventory and retail costs,” the company further said in a statement.
Commenting on the announcement, Hirofumi Suzuki, President and Representative Director at SAP Japan, maintained in a LinkedIn post:
“I am confident that SAP solutions will be able to enhance their e-commerce business infrastructure as well as to realise manufacturing that meets the rapidly changing consumers’ needs.”
