Salling Group: Expanding supply chain visibility and carrier collaboration with cloud integration and process standardization
How Salling Group manages supply flows to meet demand
Salling Group A/S set out to replace manual e-mails, spreadsheets, and disparate processes with a connected, data-driven approach. Uniting processes and partners with supply chain logistics solutions from SAP, the retailer improved visibility, control, and collaboration across its supply chain—from purchase to store.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Retail | Brabrand, Denmark | 70,000 employees |
coverage of purchase orders in the inbound road scenario.
carriers onboarded to streamline operations.
Product Owner, Logistics, Salling Group A/S
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Retail | Brabrand, Denmark | 70,000 employees |
coverage of purchase orders in the inbound road scenario.
carriers onboarded to streamline operations.
Product Owner, Logistics, Salling Group A/S
Overcoming the complexity of manual work to fill retail shelves
For Denmark’s largest retail group, Salling Group A/S, store shelves not only showcase high-demand products but also reveal the heartbeat of a vast business that operates more than 2,100 stores in Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. The retailer is known for its trusted brands, including Netto, føtex, Bilka, Salling Department Stores, and its latest acquisition, Rimi Baltic, as well as its e-commerce sites—all serving approximately 15 million customers every week.
However, behind this seemingly smooth shopping experience was a legacy of manual work and disconnected data that increased the risk of supply chain disruption. Critical information was often lost in e-mails, multiple spreadsheets, and handwritten sticky notes. Each department managed its own area, hoping nothing crucial would slip through the cracks.
“There used to be, and in some areas still are, manual events,” admits Thomas Bjerring Laursen, product owner in the logistics business units at Salling Group. “Whenever a manual event happens, there’s always a risk that something could go wrong, get forgotten, or not be addressed in time.”
As is the case for most retailers, timing is everything. A delayed inbound or outbound shipment can result in empty shelves across regions, missed campaigns, and customers who may never return. This challenge is particularly critical for road carriers that need products to be ready for pickup at supplier locations at the agreed-on time and with the correct number of pallets. Addressing these concerns directly is crucial to Salling Group’s long-term competitiveness and growth across its multinational footprint.
Enterprise Architect, IT Systems Architecture Management, Salling Group A/S
Starting to connect processes and partners to help keep shelves stocked
Salling Group is building a more connected way of working to meet customer expectations and protect its promises to shoppers. By unifying processes, partners, and critical data on a single digital backbone, the retailer is gaining a clear line of sight across its supply chain—from purchase order to product delivery.
To achieve this transformation, Salling Group sought support from SAP, benefiting from deep supply chain knowledge and the delivery of smooth integration across complex systems. Leveraging accelerated implementation services helped Salling Group set up and optimize the value of its supply chain logistics solutions from SAP.
“We appreciate SAP’s commitment to continuous innovation,” Thomas Bjerring Laursen says. “The company listened to our feedback and, in response, delivered system updates regularly to provide meaningful improvements to our business performance.”
This level of expertise and support empowered Salling Group to unify its sophisticated warehouse operations with new capabilities for transportation planning, carrier collaboration, and real-time tracking within supply chain logistics solutions from SAP.
The SAP Extended Warehouse Management application continues to support the company’s primary supply chain execution system, streamlining daily operations across 24 warehouses equipped with automated cranes, conveyors, and mobile tools. Additional integration with the SAP Transportation Management application is steadily advancing how Salling Group plans shipments, allocates costs, and manages logistics execution.
Furthermore, the adoption of the SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration solution marked the start of supply chain transformation. The retailer evolved from sporadic updates and one-off communications to collaborating directly with carriers on a single network, executing shipments, exchanging documents, and receiving freight updates in real time.
With the SAP Business Network Global Track and Trace solution, Salling Group gained a unique advantage from receiving shipment execution information directly from carriers. Direct supplier and carrier integration provides more accurate and complete information typically not available from other sources, such as the quantity available for pickup and the quantity actually picked up on an inbound delivery.
Each leg of the logistics process, from ocean to road to warehouse, will be tracked along with purchase orders and shipments. Supply chain logistics solutions from SAP give Salling Group the flexibility to gain visibility into inbound logistics from connected carriers across various modes.
“As we expand our adoption of supply chain logistics solutions from SAP across our supply chain ecosystem, it becomes clearer how the solutions work together,” explains Dan Kaihoj, enterprise architect of IT systems architecture management at Salling Group. “This gives us the foundation for better visibility and planning, faster execution, and on-time, in-full order fulfillment.”
Product Owner, Logistics, Salling Group A/S
Boosting confidence with orchestration, visibility, and collaboration
For Salling Group, the impact of its supply chain transformation reaches every shelf, every campaign, and every customer interaction. Processes that were once managed through numerous separate touchpoints are now connected in a transparent and responsive operation.
By integrating supply chain logistics solutions from SAP across warehousing, transportation, and real-time tracking, Salling Group is reducing manual follow-ups, unnecessary e-mails, and fragmented spreadsheets. This enables the organization to spend less time chasing information and more time planning strategically based on data collaboratively captured across the ecosystem. “Through this visibility, we can start reacting to risks before they affect anything. From the analysis of the new data we are gathering, we can measure and plan more strategically,” notes Thomas Bjerring Laursen. “These new capabilities enable us to shift our focus from reactive problem-solving to more strategic, forward-looking management.”
Carriers have also become true partners in a collaborative ecosystem, while customers continue to find precisely what they need on store shelves. Beyond daily improvements, Salling Group benefits from a cloud-based foundation that evolves continuously. New capabilities roll out without major IT projects, keeping operations on the leading edge and supporting expansion without disruption.
Together with SAP, the company has standardized onboarding for new carriers and aligned its processes, laying the groundwork for even greater resilience and growth. Salling Group gains more operational data to drive KPIs and decision-making with each carrier joining the network.
Enterprise Architect, IT Systems Architecture Management, Salling Group A/S
Expanding a global supply chain network to fuel future growth
Salling Group plans to expand its use of SAP Transportation Management, SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration, and SAP Business Network Global Track and Trace across more regions and transportation modes. Taking this next step helps build a stronger, more agile operation that can adapt to what comes next.
With each new carrier connection running along the standardized and integrated process, the retailer moves closer to realizing its vision of a truly connected global supply chain. In the near term, Salling Group will implement on-carriage ocean shipments to round out its comprehensive, end-to-end execution flows. The organization also looks forward to enhanced analytics and AI applications that leverage the integrated foundation of SAP Extended Warehouse Management, SAP Transportation Management, and SAP Business Network for Logistics.
In the longer term, Salling Group is doubling down on its vision of a truly connected global supply chain that’s ready to support growth, keep employees focused on what matters, and bring reliability to every customer experience. This includes adopting cloud innovations from SAP that enhance supply chain orchestration without large-scale IT disruptions.
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