bH & Compagnie's north Germany discount supermarket chain, Aldi Nord, has taken the decision to switch to a new central merchandising system, created by a multinational software company.It marks a new direction for the company, and could have a knock-on effect throughout Aldi's total operations if it proves to be a success.
Traditionally, all retail brands within Aldi (both Nord, Sud) have used an in-house development for organisational systems. But now ALdi Nord, which operates in Denmark, France, the Benelux countries, the Iberian peninsula, and Poland, has decided to switch to a central merchandising system developed by SAP.
SAP AG is a German multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. The company's best-known software products are its enterprise resource planning application systems and management (SAP ERP), which Aldi Nord have signed up for.
It marks quite the milestone in the German hard discounter's retail technology history. Just at the end of 2013, Aldi also signed a contract with German company T-systems to provide both virtual local area networks and a virtual private network (VPN) for the retailer.
The VPN, for example, will host orders for goods and electronic payment transactions as well as connecting external service providers.
Aldi Sud, which operates in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Switzerland, Australia, Austria, and Slovenia, are still using an in-house developed central merchandising system.
