TAKISADA-OSAKA: Facilitating Sales, Speeding Delivery, and Improving Service with SAP Mobile Platform

Transcription

1 TAKISADA-OSAKA: Facilitating Sales, Speeding Delivery, and Improving Service with SAP Mobile Platform One of Japan s leading textile wholesale distributors, TAKISADA-OSAKA CO., LTD. has been expanding its business across Asia and Europe. When it needed to improve order management at trade shows, it turned to SAP Mobile Platform. With a new mobile app, orders can be taken with a smartphone and delivered faster, leaving more time to focus on customers and close deals.

2 Company TAKISADA-OSAKA CO., LTD. Headquarters Osaka, Japan Industry Wholesale distribution Products and Services Wholesale export and import of textile garments and other fiber materials Employees 749 (January 2014) Revenue 83.2 billion (US$840.2 million) (January 2014) Web Site en.takisada-osaka.co.jp BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION The company s top objectives Establish an internal information-sharing environment Improve customer satisfaction during and after trade shows Spend more time on sales and customer support by streamlining sample delivery The resolution Created a mobile app to read information on textile and garment samples from a mobile device using SAP Mobile Platform Enabled offline synchronization of back-end systems and the mobile app The key benefits Efficient collection and management of customer and request information Faster customer support, lowering the number of lost sales opportunities Ability to leverage information obtained at trade shows for company-wide sales and marketing Ability to develop and operate additional mobile apps Read more Textile trade shows are the first contact point with our customers. We can now efficiently and reliably obtain sample information chosen by each customer from a mobile device instead of manually. This has dramatically accelerated our deal negotiations after trade shows. Toshihiko Moriguchi, Operating Officer and Division Manager of SCM Division, TAKISADA-OSAKA CO., LTD. TOP BENEFITS ACHIEVED 85% Faster delivery of samples to customer (7 days to 24 hours) <1% Inquiries about missing deliveries and samples (down from 30% of total deliveries) 5 months To develop and launch the mobile app using SAP Mobile Platform See more metrics 2 / 6

3 Writing order slips slows delivery and burdens customer relations Since it was founded in 1864, TAKISADA-OSAKA has been a market leader in the Japanese textile industry and continues to expand across Asia and Europe, working with local subsidiaries to organize and participate in trade shows across the globe. But because textile information was not centrally managed and individual samples had to be gathered from different divisions, ordering textile samples to present at overseas shows was a challenge. Plus, it was next to impossible to make use of information on the various samples from the trade show floor. To solve the problem, TAKISADA-OSAKA dedicated a team to the collection of samples from each division and assigned bar codes to each sample, helping to centralize sample information and streamline delivery to the trade shows. Although bar codes were assigned to samples at each division, the code for the sample ordered at the trade show booth was recorded using pen and paper. The sales representative would give the customer a copy of the handwritten code and make a list of all the order slips to send back to Japan. Not only did it take time to deliver the list, but there were also errors both in transcribing and reading the handwritten codes. Sales representatives at trade shows needed a tool that would allow them to scan bar codes and deliver order information back to the appropriate textile division. One resolution was mobile apps; therefore, they started to develop a mobile system. We wanted to improve our customer service through automated internal information sharing and create an environment where sales representatives could focus on helping customers and making sales. Toshihiko Moriguchi, Operating Officer and Division Manager of SCM Division, TAKISADA-OSAKA CO., LTD. 3 / 6

4 Developing a mobile app to read bar codes in just five months Already running the SAP ERP application, TAKISADA-OSAKA worked with the SAP Consulting organization to deploy SAP Mobile Platform, on which it built a mobile app to read sample bar codes and communicate order information to back-end systems. The SAP ERP application has been a very stable system, and we could leverage that when developing mobile apps, says Masahiro Saito, manager of the service planning section of SCM Promotion Group and lead for IT system development. Plus, the platform allowed the app to be used offline, eliminating connectivity concerns. The first step was to create a mock-up of the mobile app on SAP Mobile Platform, verifying it in the test environment. It was then tested at trade shows, where users could provide feedback to the development team. Just five months later, the mobile app was ready for live operation. One of the local subsidiaries in Shanghai, in addition to European, American, and many other sales divisions, participated in the testing. We made a lot of improvements based on their feedback, says Yoshihiro Morita, a member of the service planning section in the SCM Promotion Group of the SCM division. What made this project unique was that we aimed to test the app in the sales division before going live company-wide. The result is a user-friendly app that meets the needs of various departments. And because users were part of the process, they are spreading the word about how convenient it is, which means the other departments mobile implementation will be applied once they see how smoothly it integrates. Although we had already considered using the mobile device on our own and clarified our final goals, SAP Consulting added value by helping us understand the needs of the project more precisely. Masahiro Saito; Manager of Service Planning Section for SCM Promotion Group, SCM Division; TAKISADA-OSAKA CO., LTD. 4 / 6

5 Delivering faster, reducing errors, and making deals on-site TAKISADA-OSAKA now uses the mobile app at international and local trade shows, allowing it to collect sample information and process orders on-site. Once the bar code has been scanned and the customer and delivery information entered, the data is automatically sent to a back-end system. The order is also converted to a PDF, so it can be printed or ed to the customer. Sample orders can even be delivered before, not after, the show is over. Now we can reliably support potential customers whom we might have missed before because we could not finalize deals at the show, says Saito. Plus, on-site input has dramatically reduced the difference in time, and automated data has reduced the number of shipping errors. As Morita notes, Customer support has been standardized across the company. Deliveries are faster, and inquiries about undelivered orders and sample delivery errors have dropped significantly. KEY BENEFITS 85% Faster delivery of samples to customer (7 days to 24 hours) <1% Inquiries about missing deliveries and samples (down from 30% of total deliveries) 5 months To develop and launch the mobile app using SAP Mobile Platform 5 / 6

6 TAKISADA-OSAKA Analyzing customer data to predict the next big fashion trend TAKISADA-OSAKA plans to push the mobile app company-wide while further increasing the efficiency of sample delivery and the accuracy of customer acquisition forecasting. It is also using what it learned to develop new mobile apps on SAP Mobile Platform that will link product information, customer management, and more. Customers will soon be able to place orders online, and TAKISADA-OSAKA will expand Web functionality to support mobile devices. The company is also considering a link with SAP ERP to sync up sample information from trade shows with online orders, bulk orders, and other data for more efficient inventory management. The key will be to leverage all this data for marketing and development, says Toshihiko Moriguchi, operating officer and division manager of the SCM division. When it comes to competitive product development, TAKISADA- OSAKA will lead the way by combining a 150-year tradition of excellence with cutting-edge technology, helping sales representatives and designers anticipate demand and stay ahead of the latest fashion trends. CMP29451 (14/08) 6 / 6

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