Digitization profiteer

Brand names such as Artdeco, Make-up Factory, Anny, PLCC or Malu Wilz are well known and widely established in the cosmetics industry. What's more, with several subsidiaries, the cosmetics group from the Munich region is the market leader in highly specialized cosmetics sales in Germany. Innovative branding concepts and specially tailored sales strategies are the key to success.

The Group operates in 78 countries around the globe. The various products are sold in different price segments and targeted at several age groups via a variety of sales channels (omnichannel): via specialist cosmetics retailers, cosmetics studios and drugstores, as well as via department stores, cosmetics and retail chains, duty-free stores, but also via the Internet, the Artdeco Shop and other online stores.

For the cosmetics group, digitization is not just a vague phrase, but is actively practiced. In other words, without digitization, the branding concepts and sales strategies - and indeed internationally - would not be as successful and could never be implemented so extensively.

In all of the cosmetics group's digitization activities and initiatives, Seeburger's Business Integration Suite (BIS), as an integration platform, is the centerpiece or linchpin.

"Virtually all data and communication processes run internally as well as externally via the central integration platform BIS. B2B and B2C integration as well as EDI communication, web services with different systems, information and seamless data integration from and to the SAP ERP system including integration of PIM, API/EAI integration or connector connections and integrations".

explains Gottwald Meister, IT/EDI Manager at Artdeco Cosmetics.

What has been achieved in terms of business integration has been consistently and steadily expanded. For example, Artdeco converted its international ordering channels to EDI as early as 2000. This was also done with Seeburger's support.

From then on, the sales channels with selected retail companies and drugstores were digitized, and numerous smaller perfume stores and cosmetics retail companies were integrated into the business network.

For some time now, the sales department has been working with mobile devices and ordering software, for example to execute ad hoc orders via SOAP web services in SAP as IDocs. This was also implemented using the Business Integration Suite as an integration platform.

B2B and B2C integration

Artdeco set an extremely important digitization path marker with Seeburger about six years ago with the launch of its own multilingual online stores for both the B2B and B2C sectors.

In part, this was achieved by linking the SAP ERP systems via BIS. This has made it possible to push ahead with internationalization (plus a further 40 countries) in particular, but also to increase customer loyalty.

As IT/EDI manager Meister points out, "at Artdeco, the Seeburger Business Integration Suite acts as the central integration platform for all digital sales channels in terms of true omnichannel integration".

As a comprehensive integration example, he cites the receipt of orders from B2B and B2C customers via the store with integration into SAP through BIS: this also includes the creation of inventory queries and delivery processing to end and retail customers with stock levels via the BIS API/EAI solution component as well as via AS2 Connect.

In contrast, the business processes of the Malu Wilz cosmetics brand, which is located in the luxury segment, have always been carried out internally and completely independently: from product data management, sales via selected and authorized cosmetics stores via field sales or the Malu Wilz B2B webshop, through to delivery from the company's own warehouse. As a result, SAP integration is implemented as an advantageous real-time application via XML files as a BIS API/EAI solution.

Savings potential

As IT/EDI manager Meister explains, "the benefits and potential savings from using the Business Integration Suite are considerable. It also allows additional functionalities to be implemented flexibly and quickly."

On the one hand, Artdeco benefits from globally digitized ordering processes with all key retail partners based on the BIS integration platform, which also ensures SAP integration of customer and order data, for example.

Here, an advantageous monitoring or tracking of all goods flows takes place. On the other hand, Artdeco is able to perform special B2B customer price calculations including discount calculations on the debtor level and on the basis of extracted SAP data.

In addition, Artdeco can quickly and easily integrate mobile data terminals into the order processes, even when working with business partners (for example, for ad hoc orders).

Artdeco also uses BIS to ensure that, for example, product presentations in the B2B/B2C online store are implemented profitably and thus advantageously by integrating the product information management system (PIM).

As a further plus point, the digitalization and streamlined handling of the aforementioned processes via the BIS platform has created free capacities that are being used to carry out further optimization of logistics processes and thus generate further savings potential.

Last, but not least, everyone benefits from the restructuring: the customers from a meaningful product catalog with more favorable and faster business processing, the brands from improved customer loyalty.