SAP CAR Implementation for a Leading Retail Company in the US

Customer Profile

The client is a leading American regional grocer with over 200 supermarkets in the Southeastern United States. In addition to supermarkets, they also own and operate shopping centers, gas stations, and a milk processing plant.

Business Challenge

The client had a 20-year-old custom sales audit process with only department-level financial postings. This outdated process needed modernization due to evolving business models, limited support, and the lack of detailed audited sales data for effective analysis.

To drive this transformation, the client sought to leverage SAP Customer Activity Repository with standard Sales Audit functionality, laying the groundwork for new business models and future use cases with CAR. Their existing sales reports were retrospective, constrained by the legacy audit process. The client aimed to enable real-time, forward-looking analytics. Additionally, they needed to update their custom code for in-store consumer credit card reconciliation, which was no longer supported, and introduce reconciliation feeds for curbside and online business models. 

Partnering with Applexus

Applexus integrated SAP CAR Sales Audit with the client’s existing customized Toshiba POS system and a custom financial posting interface. The Applexus Consumer Credit Card Reconciliation solution was implemented using three data feeds: credit cards for in-store transactions, credit cards for online transactions, and third-party check clearing. Applexus also extended its Media Reconciliation front end to SAP CAR, delivering a simplified and more efficient user experience. 

The CAR implementation revealed accuracy issues in the previous POS interface with custom sales audit financial postings, which had been affecting reported sales and discounts. Post-implementation, SAP CAR now captures accurate financial data.

Benefits Delivered

• Replaced an outdated, customized solution with standard SAP CAR, supported by both SAP and Applexus, reducing staffing needs for maintenance.
• Established a foundation for advanced, forward-looking sales analytics and future CAR use cases such as improved forecasting and store replenishment.
• Enabled efficiency gains for sales auditors through enhanced processes in SAP CAR and minor custom enhancements by Applexus.
• Increased flexibility for both users and system interfaces.