BP Retail expects to save up to £600m over the next few
years by standardising business processes and IT systems at all of
its petrol stations around the world.
The
retail division of the petrol giant has earmarked £280m to spend on
the systems overhaul over three years, during which time it
will transform the systems used on forecourts in the UK, US,
Germany, Spain, Portugal and Australia.
The company has already started the ambitious programme in the
UK.
Janelle Hill, vice-president of research at analyst firm
Gartner, said, “There are lots of reasons for doing this programme,
but the main one is reducing the ongoing cost of maintaining
multiple environments.
“This is probably very similar to
Tesco’s business process standardisation programme across 14
countries and 3,000 stores.”
BP Retail has called the global business process standardisation
programme Delivering Advanced Retailing Technologies (Dart).
Buyers will use SAP Merchandise Management software for ordering
goods, and SAP Assortment Management will enable each store’s
product range to be tailored for the local market.
JDA Floor Planning and JDA Space Planning systems will be
introduced to improve the display of goods in BP stores.
Because most of its forecourts have legacy till systems that
could not handle the functionality of the new applications, BP
Retail is rolling out a point of sale system from Retailix across
its outlets.
Ed Alford, chief information manager for convenience and retail
at BP Retail, said, “Under the programme, when a country goes live,
it will be a big-bang switchover.
“In the UK, we are already getting reduced out-of-stocks and
better availability through our food service.”
The retailer expects to save £60m by centralising its IT
function globally. It has established support centres in India and
Bratislava in Slovakia, and national IT operations will be phased
out one by one.
Tesco standardises
for expansion >>
Plan to roll out Simply Food to BP petrol stations
Process standardisation discussions started in 2005
>>
Oil tanker maintenance drives emerging technology adoption
>>
Marks & Spencer interfaces to boost
collaboration
BP Retail’s standardisation programme in the UK, which is
expected to cost £13m, will include new systems interfaces with
Marks & Spencer.
Last November,
Marks & Spencer announced that it would be establishing its
Simply Food stores in up to 200 of BP Retail’s 285 UK
forecourts following a successful trial.
Ed Alford, chief information manager for convenience and retail
at BP Retail, said, “We are talking to Marks & Spencer about
how we can collaborate better on the in-store display of goods. At
the moment, I send them a feed from my store systems, but
integrating the systems is a really exciting opportunity.”
Gartner vice-president of research Janelle Hill said,
“Integration would give them a more effective process and better
end-to-end visibility.”
Marks & Spencer website >>
Marks & Spencer extends RFID technology to 120 stores
>>
M&S ready to start national roll-out of item-level RFID
>>
M&S to run multi-channel order system >>
Marks & Spencer plans Epos replacement >>
Marks & Spencer launches website in collaboration with Amazon
>>
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