The Hindu Business Line : SAP to focus more on retail space

Global enterprise business solutions major SAP has firmed up plans to address the requirements of the growing retail segment in India. As part of its "strategic goal" in this regard, the company will recruit 160 developers and value engineers in India exclusively for the retail space during the current calendar year, according to Mr Colin Lian, Director, Business Development, SAP-Asia Pacific.

At present, SAP India has 15 developers and value engineers working exclusively in the retail space. Last year, the company opened a `Centre for Retail Excellence' in Mumbai to focus on the niche requirements of the retail segment.

Retail Boom

Interacting with presspersons at a "media offsite" workshop held in Bangalore recently, Mr Lian said rapid economic growth, favourable demographics, rapid urbanisation, emergence of global consumers and opportunities in non-grocery retailing in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) region were fuelling the retail boom in these countries.

"In the retail space, India will achieve in the next five years what others have taken 25 years to achieve," he said.

On its part, SAP was focused on "driving global, regional and local retail". According to Mr Lian, "retail is SAP's fastest-growing and soon-to-be largest industry vertical." Cross-industry segment-wise, retail currently ranks No 5 in terms of contribution to SAP's overall revenue. This ranking is expected to move up to No 3 by 2010, owing significantly to SAP's special focus on the mid-market segment.

Mid-market Segment

Mr Lian said SAP's dominance in the mid-market segment would be propelled by fast and easy implementation of mySAP business suite, shortened implementation time, reduced costs of ownership and quick returns on investments.

Bundled offerings with pre-configured settings, master data, configuration documentation and test catalogues would facilitate faster implementation. Particular solutions for mid-market on-demand would also be on offer.