GS Retail: Bringing finance processes to the cloud with a system fit for the future
Explore GS Retail’s journey with SAP
GS Retail is a leading retailer in South Korea, offering a seamless shopping experience both online and offline by operating not only brick-and-mortar stores but also an e-commerce platform called GSSHOP. It needed a new foundation for core business processes that would empower it to stay ahead of rapidly changing trends. So, the company selected the RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition solution to help it digitalize and stabilize operations, especially in finance.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Retail | Seoul, South Korea | 10,000 employees |
seconds to generate profit and loss reports (down from 40 minutes).
automation of closing adjustment entries.
linked documents verified across more than 20 systems.
Team Leader, DX Division and DX Strategy Team, GS Retail Co. Ltd.
Evolving retail ahead of rapidly changing customer demands
GS Retail Co. Ltd. represents the future of retail. The company uses technology to create innovative customer experiences that are transforming expectations for shopping in the digital era. There are approximately 18,000 GS25 convenience stores and more than 500 GS The Fresh supermarkets throughout South Korea, and these numbers are growing rapidly.
The company stands out with its extensive network of locations, strong brand recognition, technology-focused retail solutions, and customer-centric approach. It offers a wide range of products and services that change along with shoppers’ needs, uses advanced technologies for inventory management and customer engagement, and emphasizes sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
Along the way, GS Retail has taken stock of global and industry trends. The growth of e-commerce, increasing emphasis on sustainability, advances in technology including AI and the Internet of Things, and evolving consumer preferences toward convenience and health-focused products are steering the future of the company.
With such an expansive franchise business, GS Retail faces unique challenges. If the company’s sales systems aren’t up to date, there are problems in the settlement process with merchants. For franchisees, the settlement amount is a monthly salary for office workers, which means the settlement process must always be smooth and accurate. With more than 18,000 franchisees, there are more than 18,000 inspectors of the settlement results, which puts a lot of pressure on GS Retail’s systems to perform as expected.
To adapt and innovate ahead of change, GS Retail knew it needed the right technology. The company sought a foundation for core business—with special attention on its finance processes—that could also empower it to implement new and emerging intelligent technologies.
Setting up a stable solution for an uncertain industry
To take advantage of the growing possibilities in retail as customer tastes change and technology evolves, GS Retail implemented the RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition solution.
RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition provides cloud-based ERP as a new foundation for core business. It includes services and tools that smooth the move from on-premise operations. These services helped GS Retail transition from the SAP ERP application to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.
GS Retail used the offering to establish an integrated financial system that optimizes financial processes and supports system stability. In fact, one of the key reasons the company chose SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition was its stability. GS Retail wanted to stabilize processes across business partners and enterprise-wide operations. For example, the company needed to register and verify nearly 300,000 documents from more than 20 systems and link them to the new core system. This included vendor, franchise, and product payment documents from the company’s e-financing systems, as well as labor cost documents created by HR software.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition integrates with the company’s unique landscape of finance systems. GS Retail faced a particular challenge in finding a new foundation for core business because its finance systems, including purchase, logistics, sales, and broadcasting, were all developed in-house. Using SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, the company creates consistent experiences across its more than 20 systems and all their data.
Integrated finance would help the company accelerate the closing phase and enhance monitoring to provide timely, integrated financial information. Features for automation made streamlined processing for more-efficient finance possible. On top of all that, the mobile capabilities of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition could empower GS Retail’s employees to work from almost anywhere.
Reducing redundancy and empowering employees
With RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, GS Retail is better prepared to stand out in a competitive market and stand up to customers’ growing expectations.
The services included as part of RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition helped the company get up and running with its new cloud-based ERP quickly. It took just six months to plan and implement and another two months to stabilize and fine-tune the system for GS Retail’s unique needs.
The integrated system optimizes financial operations and boosts process efficiency and worker productivity. It better empowers enterprise and line-of-business users to do their jobs, and it’s helped eliminate redundancy where it starts. For example, the company cut its time to produce profit and loss reports down to just 40 seconds. Before, it took 40 minutes to generate these metrics.
GS Retail now has greater visibility across financial processes. The project integrated master data to enable information sharing across departments, which has broken down collaboration barriers.
Innovating in intelligence to change the future of retail
The accounting team at GS Retail reduced its month-end closing time by one to two days thanks to the digital transformation. The company hopes to cut this workload even further by adopting AI technology for greater automation in month-end close as well as other processes.
The introduction of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition signifies that we are now equipped to leverage cutting-edge AI in accounting processes. Moving forward, GS Retail will use various technologies to support faster decision-making and help achieve its sales goals.