Convenience store chain
European retailer keeps shelves stocked with digital workflows powered by OpenText™ Extended ECM
About the convenience store chain
Summary
Challenges
- Retail store network growing significantly year-on-year.
- Franchisees placed thousands of orders on paper every day.
- Slow, manual processes increased the risk of stockouts.
Solution
- Replaced paper with seamless digital workflows.
- Built tailored experiences for multiple user groups.
- Enabled real-time collaboration on any device.
Results
Cut the risk of stockouts
Saved 1,500 trees a year
Helped franchisees grow their businesses
Challenges
- Retail store network expanding significantly year-on-year
- Thousands of franchisees placed thousands of orders on paper every day, putting pressure on logistics operations
- Slow, paper-based processes made it difficult for logistics teams to identify missing items in franchisees’ orders, increasing the risk of stockouts
Through its extensive network of convenience stores, this European retailer offers consumers a comprehensive assortment of products, tasty snacks, and refreshing drinks. A market leader in the convenience segment, the company is expanding its store footprint to bring its offering closer to customers.
A spokesperson for the convenience store chain confirmed, “We’re continuously opening new stores, the majority of which we operate as franchises.”
At the company’s stores, franchisees aim to stock the optimal product assortment based on local customer preferences. In the past, franchisees placed orders using paper forms, which were processed and fulfilled from one of the retailer’s logistics centers.
“We have added many stores to our retail network in the last three years—and as the business grew, it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain an efficient logistics process,” explained the spokesperson. “If products were missing from their orders, our franchisees would complete additional paperwork and hand it to their delivery driver, which increased the risk of delivery delays and stockouts at our stores.”
To support its fast-growing business, the company looked for a way to replace manual paper-based processes with streamlined and highly automated workflows.
“Every day, stakeholders across the company were filling in and signing tens of thousands of documents,” confirmed the spokesperson. “We set out to find innovative ways to help the business work more efficiently.”
With OpenText Extended ECM supporting our logistics processes, we’re in a strong position to open new stores and reach more customers.
Solution
After reviewing solutions from leading vendors, the convenience store chain selected OpenText™ Extended ECM. The content services platform enables the company to use digital workflows and automation to streamline paper processes.
Products deployed
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OpenText™ Extended ECM
Securely govern the information lifecycle by integrating content management with SAP®, Microsoft® 365, Salesforce, SAP SuccessFactors®, etc.
Replacing paper with seamless digital workflows
By bringing together content and processes using Extended ECM, the company can make it easier than ever for staff and decision makers across the business to work together. Deployed in the Azure cloud using OpenText X‑Plans, the solution offers both high reliability and seamless scalability, facilitating continued business growth. With X‑Plans, the company gained a turnkey solution that delivered the exact package of capabilities it needed.
“Of all the digitalization solutions we considered, Extended ECM was the best fit for our business,” explained the spokesperson. “With the OpenText solution at the heart of our new logistics process, each stakeholder can access all the information they need in near-real time.”
Building tailored experiences for multiple user groups
With expert support from OpenText and a local technology partner, the retailer deployed the new ECM platform and configured digital workflows to replace paper-based processes. The solution is fully integrated with the company’s enterprise service bus, allowing it to build processes that leverage data from external systems, such as its ERP and warehouse management applications.
The spokesperson added, “Throughout our digitalization project, we greatly appreciated the support we received from OpenText. The team’s guidance was particularly valuable when it came to building custom front-end experiences for our various user groups—including delivery drivers, franchisees, warehouse teams, and system administrators.”
Enabling real-time collaboration on any device
Today, franchisees can create and submit their orders electronically via OpenText Extended ECM. If something is missing from an order, franchisees can open a ticket using the same solution.
The spokesperson continued, “Franchisees can review and sign for their deliveries by logging into the solution from their PC or mobile device. If anything is missing, they can instantly report the discrepancy to our warehouse team, who can immediately start working on a resolution.”
With a built-in electronic signature capability, the new solution eliminates the need for physically signing paper documents. Electronic signatures in OpenText Extended ECM are fully compliant with the European Union regulation on electronic identification and trust services (eIDAS), helping to ensure transparency and compliance.
By digitalizing many of our key processes, we’ve significantly reduced the need to shuffle documents back and forth through the organization—saving around 1,500 trees annually and helping to reduce our carbon footprint.
Results
Today, thousands of the retailer’s franchisees rely on OpenText Extended ECM to help keep their stores stocked with irresistible product assortments—helping the company to drive sales and expand its store footprint.
Reduced the risk of stockouts
Thanks to its engagement with OpenText, the convenience chain has succeeded in replacing slow and cumbersome paper processes with slick digital workflows.
“If items were missing from an order, it used to take one working day for our warehouse team to identify and dispatch the missing items,” said the spokesperson. “Today, our franchisees can use OpenText Extended ECM to instantly alert our warehouse teams to missing items—helping us to respond rapidly and reduce the risk of stockouts at our stores.”
Saved 1,500 trees a year
Across the business, retail staff interact with OpenText Extended ECM more than 1.5 million times a day—including electronically signing around 180,000 digital documents.
The spokesperson confirmed, “Before OpenText Extended ECM, we used the equivalent of an entire railroad car full of paper every year. By digitalizing many of our key processes, we’ve significantly reduced the need to shuffle documents back and forth through the organization—saving around 1,500 trees annually and helping to reduce our carbon footprint.”
Helped franchisees grow their businesses
Moving to digital documents has delivered additional benefits for the company. While paper can get lost in the shuffle, the new digital documents are stored instantly and immutably in the cloud—helping to ensure clear, effective communications between the retailer and its franchisees.
“Our franchisees are entrepreneurs, and we want to do everything we can to help them to thrive,” explained the spokesperson. “With OpenText Extended ECM, there’s no more uncertainty about whether an order was placed or not—everything is right there in the system.”
Looking ahead, the convenience chain plans to bring more of its business processes into OpenText Extended ECM. The company is also exploring the possibility of deploying Extended ECM for Microsoft® Office 365™, empowering employees to access information directly from Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook.
“In partnership with OpenText, we’re creating a single source of truth for all our business data,” concluded the spokesperson. “With OpenText Extended ECM supporting our logistics processes, we’re in a strong position to open new stores and reach more customers.”
