News: 2010-04-22 to overview

Step by Step Towards Global Online Sales

The implementation of SAP E-Commerce in its branch offices in the Czech Republic and Slovakia represents the first step towards a global online sales organization for B. Braun Melsungen AG. The company will be accompanied along the way by Sybit GmbH.

The B. Braun group of companies supplies the global healthcare market with products for anesthesia, intensive medicine, cardiology, extra corporeal blood treatment and surgery, as well as services for hospitals, general practitioners and the homecare sector.  With 39,111 employees in over 50 countries, the company recorded sales of 4.028 billion euros in 2009.

With its new online sales platform based on SAP E-Commerce, B. Braun aims to sell primarily hospital care products. The company is anticipating increased customer loyalty and simpler business processes because by using the Web shop, customers, for the first time ever, will be able to order products without first having to contact a sales representative.

What's more, the shop itself could hardly be simpler to use. For instance, customers can create and reuse order templates if they have to place the same order over and over. Product numbers can be imported directly to the shopping basket via Excel. The order history reveals the status of current and previous orders. And it goes without saying that customer-specific conditions such as discount entitlements are taken into account when the price is calculated.

Furthermore, the order handling process can be automated thanks to seamless integration of SAP E-Commerce and SAP ERP. Order data is transferred to the ERP system and makes its way into the supply chain. Conversely, the ability to access ERP data means that country-specific or market-specific product catalogs can be created and product availability can be checked in real time.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia will be the first locations to reap the benefits of the new e-shop platform. But they are just the first in what is intended to be a large-scale rollout. The project will be realized together with Sybit GmbH, which has already proven itself in an earlier collaboration with the B. Braun subsidiary Aesculap and boasts outstanding references in the field of e-commerce.