Case Study

SPAR KJOP
SUCCESS CASE
ON LINE COMMUNICATION DRIVES SUCCESS IN
STORES AND MAIL ORDER
When a customer orders from Spar Kj0p in Norway, the country s largest mail order rm and
well-known retailer, a Microsoft Dynamics AX system ensures that the right product is picked
from inventory, packed and sent. The cus- tomer gets better service and Spar Kj0p cuts costs
while increasing revenue.
Spar Kj0p is a well-established player in the Nordic mail
Solution 1, and their own-developed application for mail
order market with yearly turnover of 900 million NOK
order and logistics - each of these with separate databases.
and continuous operation since 1962. They sell clothing
With Microsoft Dynamics AX, all information now resides in
and textiles for wholesale or private use, gift items and
one integrated database, where it can be accessed by
games - through both mail order and 18 retail stores in
the warehouse, the stores and the customers logging on
Norway. www.sparkjop.no
via the internet.
"We have 18 stores, 700 employees and dierent types
"All the stores and warehouse divisions hook up to the
of inventory. 40% of our turnover comes from mail order,"
system to communicate directly with each other. Previously,
explains the iT Manager at Spar Kj0p, Terje Nymark Olsen.
reports came from dierent departments like nance or
inventory, and the information that was available in the
Spar Kj0p previously used a combination of a Movex
stores was not accessible from the mail order division. This
financial system from intentia, a store system called
also meant a lot of double registration of data. Now all
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information is gathered in one place and every link in our
FUTURE GROWTH THROUGH THE WEB
chain has full overview as to what is in stock and where
Spar Kj0p is betting on growth in the internet market. They
- both at headquarters and out in all the stores," states
see possibilities to increase sales through a com- bination
the iT Manager. "Our new system also allows us to
of catalogues and e-business. it is the catalogues they
communicate with our suppliers and partners via Microsoft
send out that trigger the most purchases, but more
BizTalk. The result is more cost-eective daily operations."
people are using the internet as their order medium
because it is simpler and easier. "Therefore, we must
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE
have e-commerce as an integrated part of our total
Spar Kj0p has a warehouse that is divided into an automatic
business solution. The customer gets to check out the
crane-handling inventory, carton inventory and pick- ing
products in the catalogue in peace and quiet, then order
inventory. When a customer orders - via the web, mail
them on the web at their own tempo. With our new
or on the phone - Axapta checks to see if the goods
management system, each customer can get
are in stock. Based on that information, there is an
alwaysupdated information on whether our products are
automatic notice to the warehouse module that plans
in stock," reports the Marketing Director at Spar Kj0p, Tom
move- ment of goods, controls the crane inventory and
Eide Knudsen.
gives the results to truck drivers. The picking department
gets the right goods, the expediters get their packing
AXAPTA DRIVES THE ENTIRE VALUE CHAIN
lists and the rest of the pallet goes to the car- ton
Axapta at Spar Kj0p drives the entire value chain:
inventory. When the packing is done, the new ERP
stores, internet site, inventory, invoicing, accounting,
system receives notice that updates the customer order
personnel and payroll. This brings cost optimizations
and produces all the neces- sary documents, also an EDi
to every link in the chain. in addition, it provide s a
formatted notice for the mail.
strong centra l management tool that can localize any
bottlenecks. "We were looking for a better information ow.
"Spar Kj0p expedites 400,000 packages per year, with
We wanted to reduce the percentage of errors, and we are
an average of 2,000 daily. The com- munication between
focusing on giving our customers better service," sa ys Tom
Axapta and the warehouse was an important reason for
Eide Knudsen. "There were manydeep evaluations behind
choosing Axapta as our new ERP system. it is critical
our decision on this new system. An important point is that
that we pick and send the right goods," says Ny- mark
we wanted to use less time on our business processes
Olsen.
while simultaneously working from the customers
perspective. The new integrated system provides us with
Partners:
competitive advantages in the marketplace."
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