New SAP CCO checkout solution at CALIDA

2nd December 2024

CALIDA is an international trademark, with its roots in Switzerland and a global reputation for quality, comfort, innovation and modernity. Every product is a Swiss promise of quality — responsibly manufactured from the most natural and skin-friendly materials, with the least impact on the environment.

Together with consenso, CALIDA implemented a new, lean, modern, customer-oriented POS solution in almost 100 of its own stores in a total of six European countries. Fitting the solution into the existing system landscape and reducing it to the core functionalities of a POS system led to an enormous reduction in complexity.

In October 2023, the traditional Swiss brand CALIDA commissions consenso to implement SAP Customer Checkout (CCO). SAP CCO supports common POS requirements and can be integrated into the ERP system S/4HANA.

The approach

This project starts with three intensive workshop days at the main location in Sursee (Lucerne). In collaboration with our partner hokona and with the active support of CALIDA employees from IT and various business departments, all topics relevant for the introduction are identified and then implemented in a pilot project within a record time of four months.

The main achievements are as follows:

• Article supply into SAP CCO is achieved via mapping in SAP PO. Converting the format to DRFOUT means that no changes need to be made to the Customer Checkout Manager inbound channel.
• Previously, sales data was transferred from the legacy system to the SAP ERP system every evening. This approach, however, is not conducive to mapping modern omnichannel processes. Therefore, the decision is made to perform real-time posting of individual documents directly in the SAP ERP system.
• The user-friendly configuration options in the central Checkout Manager (backend component) enable CALIDA to respond quickly and flexibly to all changes, such as store openings and adjustments to payment methods.

At the same time, we are working on the conceptual design, development and implementation of additional plug-ins:

• A simple customer search in the CRM system ensures that receipts are personalised and, at the same time, enables customers to participate in the loyalty program.
• The new customer display offers an image film, the option to view receipt details and to transfer the customer receipt to a mobile device via QR code.
• Another feature for a convenient customer experience: with the new gift receipt without prices, CALIDA customers can now surprise their loved ones with an exchange option. The price remains hidden even when exchanging sizes or items.

The rollout

In March 2024, the pilot store in Salzburg goes live – the starting signal for the international rollout.

Just four weeks later, the Dutch store in Roermond follows, featuring an extension for sending customer receipts by email.

Next up is Luxembourg. The go-live also marks the launch of the loyalty program. Full access to the POS server data from the BI system creates a connection to the loyalty server so that customers continue to benefit from their discounts and vouchers.

After a short stop in Luxembourg, the CALIDA team heads to France. Since 1 August 2023, there has been a special feature in France with regard to receipts: these are no longer printed automatically, but only at the customer's explicit request. This is a measure to save paper and protect the environment, perfectly in line with CALIDA's corporate values.

Finally, with the very important domestic markets of Switzerland and Germany, the new checkout solution has been introduced in all CALIDA stores in November 2024.

We are celebrating our joint project success and the excellent, cooperative teamwork that went so smoothly from day one until rollout – and we are looking forward to further joint projects!

Photo & logo: CALIDA AG