International Retail Forum 2023
Digital transformation, Cloud technology and Artificial Intelligence are key topics in retail.
Join us for an exciting event and gain valuable insights into the latest technologies that are driving the digital transformation,
learn how Artificial Intelligence is transforming business processes, and discover the benefits of cloud adoption in retail.
Don't miss this exciting opportunity to explore the future of retail technology and to network with industry peers.
Register now and secure your spot at our event.
International Retail Forum 2023
Frankfurt, b'mine Hotel
26. / 27. October 2023
The event will be held in English language.
Our Partners
Hot Topics | First-hand Customer Experiences | New Technologies
These topics and much more awaits you at the "International Retail Forum 2023":
Customer Case Studies
Witness hands-on experiences from leading retailers how they addressed challenges and realised opportunities moving to fully digitalised processes on their SAP S/4HANA journey.
Industry Experts
Learn from our SAP colleagues and retailsolutions experts about the latest cloud technologies and the opportunities that these solutions offer for an optimal customer experience in omnichannel retailing.
Deep Dive Break-out sessions
Would you like to dive deeper into a specific topic? Why not participate in separate breakout sessions and take advantage of one on one discussions, networking and creative exchanges.
Peer Networking
Enjoy the company of like minded people and benefit from discussions with business colleagues at our exclusive evening event hosted in the spectacular b'mine Hotel rooftop bar.
Speakers
Gordon McCoy
Head of Digital Customer Products
Foodstuffs South Island will share their SAP S/4HANA digital transformation approach, with a particular focus on new digital ways to interact with suppliers by implementing SAP PMR with enhanced calendar functionality and using the SAP BTP Launchpad service to load, manage and accept promotions.
Erik Rasmussen
Head of SAP & Data Analytics
Merchandise Planning in a Luxury Department Store – Harrods will share their insights and lessons learned implementing Merchandise Planning for Retail on SAP CAR
Achim Schneider
Global Head of Retail Industry Business Unit
How to meet challenges in the future of retail? Achim Schneider, Global Head of SAP’s Business Unit Retail, provides insights on the prospective line-up of SAP´s product portfolio and how it helps to win the battle of uncertainties in the future of retail.
Arndt Hoffmann
Chief Customer Officer
smartShift's CCO Arndt Hoffmann will share, how custom code automation accelerates and de-risks your path to S/4HANA and a clean SAP core.
Ine Seidel
Application Specialist SAP PMR
Intelligent promotions - Axfood will outline how they have optimised and improved the complex promotion planning and execution process with SAP technology.
Tim Sutor
Head of IT Processes Merchandise Management - Store
Coop will discuss their transition from SAP F&R to UDF and Replenishment Planning and give valuable insights into the challenges faced in this exciting project.
Anna Ihme
Application Specialist,
Assortment Solution
Axfood will share how they are driving competitive advantages and customer satisfaction with a new assortment planning solution for category management.
Pano Papadopoulos
Business Development Lead
Consumer Industry Cloud MEE
SAP will provide a deep-dive into the landscape of SAP Order Management, unleashing its potential for Retail, CPG and beyond, as well as engaging case studies of successful SAP Order Management implementations.
Patrick Peper
Senior Channel
Sales Manager - DACH
Neptune will give an overview on how to increase instore efficiency using an integrated Low Code Platform to develop modern mobile and offline applications along with the process chain.
Stefan Hilger
Member of the Executive Board
Discover how to increase profitability by gaining tighter control across your vendor funds and promotion management. Stefan Hilger shares insights on an end-to-end process powered by digitized agreement lifecycle management to optimise your financial performance and secure your margins.
Stefan Gempp
Head of IT Processes Merchandise Management ACES
Coop will take us on their exciting journey into the Industry Cloud. We will gain insights into strategically important transformations in the area of predictive replenishment and other interesting topics.
Dirk Mühlhäuser
Head of Retail IT
Valora will share their experiences, benefits and lessons learned in deploying retailsolutions store apps on mobile devices across their expansive network of 1000+ stores for online as well as offline use.
Alexander Illenseer
Project & Portfolio Manager
Valora will share their experiences, benefits and lessons learned in deploying retailsolutions store apps on mobile devices across their expansive network of 1000+ stores for online as well as offline use.
Kasia Diem
Technology Partner Logsitic and Product Owner Logistic and Production
Migros is leading successfully the agile S4 HANA implementation. With strong emphasis on sharing experiences for logistic impelmentations, Migros will provide valuable insights to fellow professionals, empowering them to navigate the complexity of agile implementation. Migros focus on lessons learned , challenges faced, and opportunities encountered during the agile S4 HANA implementation.”
Nikolas Heitkamp
Customer Success Manager
Discover how to increase profitability by gaining tighter control across your vendor funds and promotion management. gicom shares insights on an end-to-end process powered by digitized agreement lifecycle management to optimise your financial performance and secure your margins.
Dani Khalaf
VP Industry Business Unit Retail
Modern Cloud ERP for small and medium-sized Retailer - SAP and retailsolutions experts will share insights on SAP S/4HANA Cloud for retail, fashion and vertical business, public edition
Florian Kraus
Managing Partner retailsolutions
Modern Cloud ERP for small and medium-sized Retailer - SAP and retailsolutions experts will share insights on SAP S/4HANA Cloud for retail, fashion and vertical business, public edition
Anne Kessler
Cloud Architect
Modern Cloud ERP for small and medium-sized Retailer - SAP and retailsolutions experts will share insights on SAP S/4HANA Cloud for retail, fashion and vertical business, public edition
Robert Zieschang
General Manager
Discover the evolution of SAP Customer Checkout (CCO) – a humble student prototype in 2012, now a prominent fixture at football stadiums, and sporting events and retail stores all over the world. Witness the remarkable transformation of CCO, exemplifying the power of innovation, partner ecosystems and perseverance in shaping success stories.
Professor Antonio Krüger
CEO & scientific director of DFKI
Since the public availability of ChatGPT, the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has been on everyone's lips. But what is really behind it? In his keynote, Professor Krüger will present examples from the research of the Innovative Retail Laboratory (IRL) and other research departments of the DFKI on innovations for the retail industry of the future.
Michael Horn
Head of Partner Management CEU
Large volumes of data are characteristic for the retail industry - and moving large volumes of data securely in SAP systems is characteristic for SNP. Find out more about our projects in the retail sector and how we support you securely and quickly in the conversion to S/4HANA, migrations to the cloud, system carve-outs or simply in the conversion of your existing systems.
Martin Koch
Head of Program Management EIGER
Migros’ SAP S/4HANA transformation is aiming to drive value for the company, customers, and employees through harmonisation and standardization. Migros will share how they leverage the scaled agile framework (SAFe) as a key to their successful transformation, emphasizing the importance of a holistic process governance for retailers.
Franziska Reist
Program Manager
EIGER
Migros’ SAP S/4HANA transformation is aiming to drive value for the company, customers, and employees through harmonisation and standardization. Migros will share how they leverage the scaled agile framework (SAFe) as a key to their successful transformation, emphasizing the importance of a holistic process governance for retailers.
Chris Remspecher
Director Business Solutions
SAP S/4 transformation at HFG: how to change processes, bits, and brains - In his presentation, Chris Remspecher will share insights and best practices of HOLY FASHION GROUP's journey with SAP RISE in these challenging times for fashion and retail.
Kim Rovsing Kraglund
Senior Manager, IT Process Alignment
Salling Group has more than 5 years of experience with UDF. To complete our vision of one foundation for Push-/pull-scenarios we have last year completed a co-development project with SAP on Allocation Management.
Nikolaj Bay Rasmussen
Senior Enterprise Architect, Enterprise Architecture
Salling Group is migrating to SAP S/4 HANA June 2025 focusing on minimal business impact. Full migration of +40-50TB data with maximum 48 hours of business down-time and with minimal change to UI and business logic.
Erik Pohland
Product Manager - Predictive Planning and Inventory Orchestration
SAP will provide an update on its industry cloud portfolio for Predictive Planning and Inventory Optimization – these solutions enable a sustainable and cost-efficient supply chain through predictive demand planning, optimal order and delivery scheduling and optimized order proposals through predictive replenishment.
Ed Bullen
Head of Competency Centre – Customer
Together with retailsolutions Axfood will share how they are driving competitive advantages and customer satisfaction with a new assortment planning solution for category management.
Lars Nordqvist
SME Assortment Solution
& Analytics
Axfood will share how they are driving competitive advantages and customer satisfaction with a new assortment planning solution for category management.
Andreas Mohr
Senior Development Consultant
Join us for an insightful presentation that delves into the transformative power of AI and Machine Learning in enhancing data quality and minimizing errors. Discover how cutting-edge technologies can empower your organization to harness the full potential of high-quality master data, ensuring greater accuracy, efficiency, and informed decision-making.
Karl Bend
Partner & Head of Competency Centre - Intelligent Ordering
retailsolutions will share how using the rs UDF Cockpit can be leveraged to monitor forecast and model accuracy and how to quickly and easily find problematic areas to focus attention.
Priten Sikotra
Senior Consultant
retailsolutions will share how using the rs UDF Cockpit can be leveraged to monitor forecast and model accuracy and how to quickly and easily find problematic areas to focus attention.
Alexandra Bragdell
BPO of promotions
Intelligent promotions - Axfood will outline how they have optimised and improved the complex promotion planning and execution process with SAP technology.
Michael Müller
Programm Manager of Project Olymp
Cool things are out there: Metaverse, AI, Smart Stores. To utilize these trends, a solid and non-siloed foundation is required. Transformation is key! But how to get there? These questions will be discussed in the Round Table, where Michael, with his expertise, will contribute valuable insights.
Shayne Tong
Chief Digital Officer
Cool things are out there: Metaverse, AI, Smart Stores. To utilize these trends, a solid and non-siloed foundation is required. Transformation is key! But how to get there? These questions will be discussed in the Round Table, where Shayne, with his expertise, will contribute valuable insights.
Federico Bortolotti
Global IT ERP Head
Holiday periods, flight schedules, short rental periods and various global influencing factors – Avolta will share insights about their selection process for the SAP Customer Activity Repository and how the deployment will optimize business benefits on a global scale.
Thomas Greve
Director, Enterprise Process Architect
Salling Group is migrating to SAP S/4 HANA June 2025 focusing on minimal business impact. Full migration of +40-50TB data with maximum 48 hours of business down-time and with minimal change to UI and business logic.
Harald Schmidt-Kleeßen
Key Account Manager Sales Germany
Large volumes of data are characteristic for the retail industry - and moving large volumes of data securely in SAP systems is characteristic for SNP. Find out more about our projects in the retail sector and how we support you securely and quickly in the conversion to S/4HANA, migrations to the cloud, system carve-outs or simply in the conversion of your existing systems.
Short-Bio: Harald Schmidt-Kleeßen - SNP
Harald has spent over 20 years working at SAP in different functions: Consulting, Solution Management, Presales and Business Development. Afterwards, he worked for two years in the Sales department at an SAP partner. Since 2017, he has been an integral part of the SNP team, specializing in key accounts and retail.
Short-Bio: Thomas Greve - Salling Group
Working for Salling Group for 15 years – together with Nikolaj Bay Rasmussen heading the Salling Group’s S/4 Migration Project. Nearly 30 years of experience working with SAP, including global roll-out projects and supply chain optimization projects
Short-Bio: Federico Bortolotti - Avolta
Federico joined Dufry in 2016 and is the Global Head of ERP applications in DUFRY Group (now Avolta). In the last 5 years he has managed the rollout of a global template based on SAP ERP for Retail and F&R in over 40 countries, and the migration of the whole SAP systems landscape to SAP HEC. He has 25 years of experience of working in the implementation of ERP systems.
Short-Bio: Shayne Tong - Foodstuffs
Shayne Tong has been Chief Digital Officer for Foodstuffs South Island (FSSI) in New Zealand since August 2022, reporting into the Chief Executive Officer. This is a key strategic leadership role to drive retail and supply chain digital transformation within FSSI “to be the most loved and trusted retailer in the South Island positively impacting our customers lives, every day”. FSSI operates 198 retail and wholesale stores across New World, PAK’nSAVE, Four Square, Raewood Fresh, On the Spot, Trents and Liquorland, with $3.5B turnover, 14,000 employees, 65% market share and 800,000 loyal customers. Shayne has 20+ years driving digital transformation in New Zealand, Australia and United Kingdom. Prior to his role in FSSI he has been in key strategic leadership roles as Chief Digital Officer, General Manager or Vice President in Healthcare, Utilities, Building Materials and Construction, and Retail and Investment Banking sectors.
Short-Bio: Michael Müller - REWE Group
Over 16 years of IT experience combined with more than 8 years of management responsibilities for multinational teams. Global responsibilities for IT processes for logistics and material management in production. Based on this foundation, Michael is the Program Manager of the transformation project Olymp at REWE productions as well as the Head of IT Applications for REWE production.
Short-Bio: Alexandra Bragdell - Dagab
Bringing a rich background in the food-retail industry with her, Alexandra is now Axfood's BPO of promotions.
In her role, she actively leads and prioritizes tasks for the Agile Team of Promotion. Having previously served as a promotion specialist within one of Axfood's chains, Alexandra possesses unique and invaluable knowledge, allowing her to understand every intricate detail of the promotion process. Her responsibilities also include bringing together all the different chains and continually brainstorming fresh ideas to enhance efficiency.
Short-Bio: Priten Sikotra - retailsolutions
Priten has extensive experience within the SAP landscape, specialising in SAP UDF, HANA and Analytics.
Short-Bio: Karl Bend - retailsolutions
Karl has over 16 years’ experience in retail performing many roles across the supply chain. For the last 10 years his primary focus has been on forecasting and replenishment topics, with extensive knowledge of SAPs UDF, F&R and RPL solutions.
Short-Bio: Andreas Mohr - retailsolutions
Andreas Mohr is a Senior Development Consultant at retailsolutions AG. He looks back on 7 years of SAP and retail experience. A major focus of his work is the conception and implementation of innovative solutions in the SAP environment and in retail. In doing so, he not only moves within the boundaries of the SAP portfolio, but also delivers approaches with his team using technologies such as machine learning, especially in the area of master data and data quality management, which creates real added value for retailsolutions' customers.
Short-Bio: Lars Nordqvist - Axfood
With a long ERP related consultancy background (Accenture, Centigo), Lars has worked with Axfood since 2005. The last 10-15 years on the business side as BPO, SME and Senior advisor in the assortment and analytics areas. As one of the original project members in the co-innovation with SAP to develop APL (Assortment Planning for Grocery), Lars has contributed to the solution concepts, together with many very competent colleagues at Axfood and partner companies.
Short-Bio: Ed Bullen - retailsolutions
Ed Bullen joined retailsolutions UK in 2015 and has been part of the management team since 2019. As head of the Competency Centre for Customer Engagement he has a primary focus on applications in SAP CAR such as POSDTA, Promotions Management and Assortment Planning. He has over 15 years’ experience of SAP Retail projects and for the last two years he has been engaged as an application specialist in the Assortment Planning for Category co-innovation with SAP at Axfood.
Short-Bio: Erik Pohland - SAP
While working for SAP SE for more than 8 years, Erik is focusing on Industry Cloud product development, strategic customer co-innovations, and partnerships in the retail supply chain planning area. He previously led SAP’s solution extension partner product management for retail in the areas of loss prevention and point-of-sales. Prior to joining SAP, he has worked for adidas AG and METRO AG.
Short-Bio: Nikolaj Bay Rasmussen - Salling Group
Nikolaj has been working with Salling Group for 11 years. With over 25 years of experience with SAP he is working in IT Architecture and is responsible for SAP ECC and S/4 ERP.
Short-Bio: Kim Rovsing Kraglund - Salling Group
MBSc, in 39 years with Salling Goup Kim has been working in Logistics, Supply Chain, as well as in Audit and IT. He has been a Project Manager on SAP implementation.
Short-Bio: Chris Remspecher - Holy Fashion Group
At HOLY FASHION GROUP with its brands Strellson, JOOP! and windsor., Chris Remspecher is responsible for the SAP S/4 transformation, which also includes a lot of change management.
In his presentation he will share insights and best practices of HOLY FASHION GROUP's journey with SAP RISE in these challenging times for fashion and retail.
Short-Bio: Michael Horn - SNP
As Head of Partner Management Central Europe at SNP, Michael Horn drives the approach of software-based data transformation in SNP's Partner-Eco-System.
From his previous roles as a consultant, project manager and account manager, he is familiar with the issues surrounding SAP ERP and table-based data transformation via CrystalBridge.
Short-Bio: Professor Antonio Krüger - DFKI
Antonio Krüger is CEO and scientific director of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence GmbH (DFKI) and head of the department “Cognitive Assistants” at DFKI. He is a full professor for Computer Science at Saarland University (since 2009), Head of the Ubiquitous Media Technology Lab and scientific director of the Innovative Retail Laboratory (IRL) at DFKI. Prof. Krueger is an internationally renowned expert on Man-Machine-Interaction and Artificial Intelligence. In 2010 he has established the Mediainformatics study programme at the Saarland University and directs it to this day. Antonio is a co-founder of the Saarbrücken-based technology company Eyeled GmbH, which focuses on the development of mobile and ubiquitous information systems. Many of his research findings have found their way into applications in retail and other industrial domains. From 2004 to 2009 he was a professor of computer science and geoinformatics at the University of Münster and acted as the managing director of the institute for geoinformatics. He studied Computer Science and Economics at Saarland University and finished his Ph.D in 1999 as a member of the Saarbrücken graduate school of „Cognitive Science“. Antonio has published more than 200 scientific articles and papers in internationally recognized journals and conferences and is member of several steering committees, editorial boards and scientific advisory committees.
Short-Bio: Robert Zieschang - hokona
Robert Zieschang is the General Manager of hokona GmbH and leads the development and product planning efforts there. In the numerous international CCO projects, Robert supports his team and other partners with all technical integrations.
Robert began his career as a project manager in a small startup, followed by over 10 years as an ERP consultant, and has been focusing on SAP Customer Checkout since 2014. In collaboration with SAP, he successfully implemented SAP CCO for several renowned clients.
Outside of work, Robert is an enthusiastic motorcyclist and passionate gamer.
Short-Bio: Anne Kessler - retailsolutions
Anne is a retail expert with nearly two decades of experience in the industry. In addition to her studies in Business Informatics at SAP, she has been part of the retailsolutions team since 2019. As a dedicated solution advisor and cloud architect, she guides customers on their transformative journey to the cloud, with a particular focus on S/4HANA, especially Public Edition.
Apart from her professional achievements, Anne enjoys riding her bike and spending time with her family and friends.
Short-Bio: Florian Kraus - retailsolutions
Florian has been a managing partner and part of the extended management team at retailsolutions AG since April 2021. As Head of Sales and Business Development, he focuses on all aspects of Business Value for our customers in the context of digital transformation in retail, taking into account all current SAP offerings such as the "SAP Industry Cloud", "Rise with SAP" or “ Grow with SAP”.
Short-Bio: Dani Khalaf - SAP
Dani Khalaf, VP Industry Business Unit Retail – has been working for retail in many different global roles for more than 25 years. Next to looking after customers she is also focusing on solution and portfolio strategy for the industry and is GTM lead for SAP S/4HANA Retail and Fashion as well as new industry cloud solution SAP Order and Delivery Scheduling.
Short-Bio: Nikolas Heitkamp - gicom
Nikolas Heitkamp works as a Customer Success Manager at gicom, a company situated in Overath/Cologne, Germany, dedicated to agreement lifecycle management. In his role, he is responsible for providing consulting services to global clients and creating tailored solutions specifically designed for retail customers.
Throughout his professional journey, Nikolas has concentrated on offering guidance and devising IT solutions within the retail sector. He has gained valuable experience in various positions, including Product Development.
Short-Bio: Gordon McCoy - Foodstuffs
Gordon McCoy is the Head of Digital Customer Products at Foodstuffs South Island with 37 of experience at Foodstuffs. In his latest role, Gordon is responsible for developing and executing the company's digital customer product strategy, overseeing the development and management of digital products, and ensuring that they meet customer needs and driving business growth.
Short-Bio: Achim Schneider - SAP
In his role as the Global Head of the Retail Industry Business Unit, Achim Schneider builds the bridge between customer expectations, market requirements and SAP´s product development and go-to-market strategy. With 25 years of retail expertise and a close ear to the market, Achim is responsible for solution investments, key partner relationships, and strategic customer engagements. Together with his global team of retail and technology experts, Achim is dedicated to deliver value to an industry with unique customer needs and high consumer expectations.
Short-Bio: Erik Rasmussen - Harrods
Erik is Head of SAP & Data Analytics at Harrods and is responsible for all core SAP systems at the organisations.
Having originally joined the company in 2010 in Buying & Merchandising, Erik made the leap to IT in 2019 as Harrods built out it’s Data Analytics Organisation and expanded to cover the remaining core SAP systems in 2022. In that time Harrods has invested in implementations of SAP CAR, BW4/HANA, and CAR UDF & MPR, and is currently in discovery for their move to S4/HANA.
Short-Bio: Arndt Hoffmann - smartShift
Arndt joined smartShift in 2002 as one of the founding team members of smartShift. Arndt is responsible for the overall Customer Experience with smartShift, our customer Council, leveraging customer input for Marketing, Product and Solution decisions and selected key accounts. Before becoming CCO, Arndt was responsible for smartShift EMEA business.
Before joining smartShift, Arndt was Project Manager and Client Partner for i-Cube, an IT Transformation company based in Cambridge, MA. At i-Cube, Arndt was responsible for complex transformation projects in Europe.
Earlier in his career, Arndt was Consultant and Project Manager for the Financial Services Unit of Cooper & Lybrand / PwC in Frankfurt leading SAP Implementation projects in Europe.
Arndt holds a Master in Business Administration, Business Computing from the University of Marburg, Germany.
Short-Bio: Anna Ihme - Axfood
Anna Ihme joined Axfood in 2013 and has been responsible for the IT side of the Assortment solution since then. The main focus in recent years has been the co-innovation project with SAP of the Assortment Planning for Grocery.
She has over 20 years of experience of working with SAP including Retail and Supply Chain Management projects.
Short-Bio: Ine Seidel - Axfood
Ine Seidel is application specialist of PMR at Axfood since 2012. During that time, she played a key role in the implementation of PMR in a ramp up project with SAP. She has worked closely with the business over the years to enhance and optimise the promotion solution, making it smarter and more efficient.
With over 25 years of experience with SAP, Ine has a strong background in Sales and Distribution, having worked as a consultant on various SAP implementations before joining Axfood.
Short-Bio: Panagiotis Papadopoulos - SAP
For over two decades, Pano has been a pivotal figure in retail innovation, exhibiting a profound expertise in Commerce, Order Management, and Returns. Currently leading the charge as the Business Development Lead for SAP's Consumer Industry Cloud in the MEE division, he’s not just passionate about digital commerce, but instrumental in bringing that passion to life. His keen eye for detail and customer-centric approach have fostered engaging partnerships, sustained customer engagements, and led to the successful rollout of innovative products in Order, Availability, Supply Chain, and Returns Management. His tactical collaborations across a spectrum of teams have consistently driven superior customer experiences and marked successes in retail, CPG, and high-tech organizations. Pano stands as a testament to the powerful unity of strategy, innovation, and execution.
Short-Bio: Patrick Peper - Neptune
Patrick Peper brings over 15 years of experience in selling technical products, including SAP add-on products, always with a focus on user interfaces. In addition to sales experience, he also brings a technical interest and understanding of modern applications and UX scenarios.
Short-Bio: Stefan Gempp - Coop
Stefan Gempp is responsible for the team "IT Solutions MM/SD + Promotions" and was the project leader at the S/4HANA migration at Coop. He joined Coop in 2017 and is working in the SAP environment more than 20 years.
Short-Bio: Stefan Hilger - gicom
Stefan Hilger is Member of the Executive Board of gicom, a corporation located in Overath/Cologne, Germany. He is responsible for the divisions of Sales, Marketing and Consulting Services as well as the long-standing and successful innovation partnership with SAP.
For more than 25 years, his professional life is dedicated in providing excellence and service to his clients around the globe. He held various positions in Sales, Product Management and General Management.
Short-Bio: Dirk Mühlhäuser - Valora
Dirk is Head of Retail IT at VALORA and is responsible for all Retail IT services across all countries.
Having joined the company in 1996 as a developer in the Presse department Dirk has a long successful journey across different Valora companies with the main focus on Retail Business.
Over the years he has built up and developed many services, such as the first autonomous Retail store concepts in Switzerland (avec box).
The actual core Retail platform is mainly based on SAP products and one of the key strategic initiatives is the mobilization and digitalization or the Point-of-Sales processes with seamless integration into SAP.
Short-Bio: Alexander Illenseer - Valora
Alexander is Project & Portfolio Manager at Valora and also Project Manager for the implementation of Mobile Store Merchandise Management in the Valora Retail Division.
He joined Valora in 2018 and was responsible for the article master and inventory data migration during the SAP integration of the Retail Germany Division, which formed the basis for the successfully implemented SAP merchandise management processes for Germany. He also institutionalized the inventory processes and franchisee accounting in Germany, modeled on the SAP processes of the Retail Switzerland Division.
Short-Bio: Kasia Diem - Migros
Kasia Diem is a highly skilled professional with extensive experience in the field of technology and logistics. As a technology partner in the "EIGER" project and Product Owner in the "Logistik and Production" team within the Agile Release Train (ART), Kasia plays a pivotal role in driving efficient and effective logistics processes in IT area.
In her capacity as a technology partner, Kasia assumes responsibility for the technical aspects of logistic process implementation, bridging the gap between business requirements and IT solutions. Her expertise enables her to facilitate seamless communication and collaboration between the two domains, ensuring the successful integration of technology into logistics operations.
As the Product Owner for Logistik, Kasia takes with her agile team charge of ensuring the content and optimal implementation of logistic processes across various projects.
With over 15 years of experience in SAP implementation projects, Kasia brings a wealth of practical knowledge to the table. Her expertise allows her to provide valuable insights and reports on agile implementation in the logistics domain.
Kasia's unique blend of technical proficiency, logistical expertise, and agile implementation experience makes her an invaluable asset to any project or team. Her dedication to delivering results and driving continuous improvement sets her apart as a competent and reliable professional in the field of logistics and technology.
Short-Bio: Franziska Reist - Migros
Franziska Reist is a director and part of the group operations leadership team at Migros, Switzerland's largest retailer. She leads the program EIGER. The program is a multi-year transformation that spans from business to IT and is at the core of Migros digital transformation agenda.
Generating business value out of technology has always been the centre of gravity of Franziska’s career. She builds on over 15 years of international management experience in business-driven tech projects. Before joining Migros, Franziska was part of the executive board of IBM Switzerland, responsible for IBM’s consulting services business in Switzerland. She holds a master’s degree in economics, is a SAFe agilist, cyclist and mother of two sons.
Short-Bio: Martin Koch - Migros
Martin Koch is deputy lead and Head of Program Management of the EIGER transformation program at Migros, the largest retailer in Switzerland. He conducted the EIGER pre-study and was responsible for the setup of the EIGER program before the arrival of Franziska Reist.
In his previous positions he gained experience in large transformation projects, for example as Business Owner of a large CRM Transformation at Switzerland’s largest Telecom provider or as responsible project manager of Switzerland’s first SAP S/4HANA brownfield transformation. He holds a master’s degree in Marketing Management and CRM. He likes diving, cycling, skiing and is a big fan of ice hockey.
Agenda
International Retail Forum 2023
Short-Bio: Sylvia Ludwig - SAP
Sylvia is more than 25 years with SAP with experience in many different roles in the global SAP Retail space. Based out of St. Ingbert Germany she works in the Industry Business Unit Retail as solution owner for several solutions around retail demand and replenishment planning. She is always looking for requirements discussions as well as to share product and roadmap information.
Short-Bio: Dani Khalaf - SAP
Dani Khalaf, VP Industry Business Unit Retail – has been working for retail in many different global roles for more than 25 years. Next to looking after customers she is also focusing on solution and portfolio strategy for the industry and is GTM lead for SAP S/4HANA Retail and Fashion as well as new industry cloud solution SAP Order and Delivery Scheduling.
Short-Bio: Simona Kapceviciute - retailsolutions
Simona joined retailsolutions last year with 8 years of outstanding experience working at SAP Emarsys where she operated in Client Success, Technical Support, Project Management and Implementations teams. Simona managed some of the biggest SAP Emarsys projects to date including retailers such as New Balance, Samsonite, Foyles, Allsaints, Kurt Geiger and many more.
Short-Bio:Tim Sutor - Coop
With 8 years of experience in the area of forecasting and replenishment at Coop, Tim joined the co-innovation project for improving the Unified Demand Forecast and the development of the Replenishment Planning with SAP in the early stages in 2017. Now he's responsible for the implementation of these new technologies, though the UDF is already live since 2020, the Replenishment Planning is right now in the rollout.
Short-Bio: Amaro Barreal - Coop
Amaro Barreal received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in mathematics in 2013 from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and his doctoral degree in mathematics in 2017 from Aalto University, Finland.
From 2013 - 2017 he was with the Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis at Aalto University, where he worked under the supervision of Prof. Camilla Hollanti as part of the Algebra, Number Theory, and Applications research group. He followed up his doctoral studies with a short postdoctoral research position in the same group.
Following his academic studies, he joined the Digital Analytics / AI working group within Coop in Basel, Switzerland, where he worked from 2018 – 2022 as a senior Data Scientist. He is now head of the PWW Verkauf – VST team within the Coop IT department.
Short-Bio: Pascal Dambach - Coop
Pascal Dambach received his B.Sc. degree in business engineering in 2010 from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland.
In 2010 he started working at Coop in Basel, Switzerland as a business analyst in the area of Business Intelligence Supply Chain Management.
From 2014 - 2020 he was leading the team PWW BI SCM, where the reporting of sales based ordering was located.
In 2020 he was able the take over the team PWW Verkauf, this also includes the VST team, which Amaro leads. In addition to the sales-based ordering process, his area of responsibility also includes store merchandise management and the cash register processes within the Coop IT department.
Short-Bio: Franziska Reist - Migros
Franziska Reist is a director and part of the group operations leadership team at Migros, Switzerland's largest retailer. She leads the program EIGER. The program is a multi-year transformation that spans from business to IT and is at the core of Migros digital transformation agenda.
Generating business value out of technology has always been the centre of gravity of Franziska’s career. She builds on over 15 years of international management experience in business-driven tech projects. Before joining Migros, Franziska was part of the executive board of IBM Switzerland, responsible for IBM’s consulting services business in Switzerland. She holds a master’s degree in economics, is a SAFe agilist, cyclist and mother of two sons.
Short-Bio: Martin Koch - Migros
Martin Koch is deputy lead and Head of Program Management of the EIGER transformation program at Migros, the largest retailer in Switzerland. He conducted the EIGER pre-study and was responsible for the setup of the EIGER program before the arrival of Franziska Reist.
In his previous positions he gained experience in large transformation projects, for example as Business Owner of a large CRM Transformation at Switzerland’s largest Telecom provider or as responsible project manager of Switzerland’s first SAP S/4HANA brownfield transformation. He holds a master’s degree in Marketing Management and CRM. He likes diving, cycling, skiing and is a big fan of ice hockey.
Short-Bio: Erik Rasmussen - Harrods
Erik is Head of Data Analytics at Harrods, and is responsible for Business Intelligence, Data Engineering, Master Data Management, and Product Catalogue Management.
Having originally joined the company in 2010 in Buying & Merchandising, Erik made the leap to IT in 2019 as Harrods built out it’s Data Analytics Organisation. Since then, Erik has lead implementations of SAP CAR, BW4/HANA and supported implementations of SAP Marketing Cloud and Customer Data Cloud, and is currently leading implementations of CAR UDF & MPR as Harrods continues to invest in its SAP landscape.
Short-Bio: Guido Hoepfner - McKinsey & Co.
Guido Hoepfner is Partner of McKinsey’s Digital & Analytics practice with over 20 years of international and extensive experience in strategic IT and digitalization. He primarily advises retailers and consumer goods manufacturers in the areas of enterprise IT, digital twin design and digital transformation of business models and processes.
Guido studied computer sciences with a diploma at the university of Bonn. He also holds a Master of Management at the university of St. Gallen and completed various executive programs at the INSEAD Business School. Guido has a 360-degree wealth of experience through 8 years of practice at SAP, 10 years as entrepreneur and management consultant and 4 years as COO and CTO for an international retailer with 80,000 employees.
Short-Bio: August Harder - das magische Auge
August Harder studied computer science at the University of Zurich. Then worked at Apple and Commodore as Marketing Manager. From 1991 to 1998 August was Head of IT at Migros Zurich. August then worked for 23 years as CIO for Coop Switzerland. During this time he set up Coop's online shop and was responsible for the Coop industry for several years. Today, August runs das magische Auge GmbH and does IT strategy consulting for medium-sized and large customers.
Short-Bio: Michael Standfield - API
Michael Standfield is an SAP Retail Specialist with 20+ years of experience. He has worked for clients in Australia, Europe, and the US. At API head leads a team of SAP CAR specialists and is responsible for strategy, design and change in SAP CAR and its consuming applications.
Short-Bio: Christian Hager - retailsolutions
Christian has been Managing Director of retailsolutions Austria GmbH since 2017. Previously, he worked for many years at SAP and SAP partners in Austria, advising his customers at the interface of technology, processes and organisation. He studied business informatics at JKU Linz and business psychology at the Private University of Seeburg. In his free time, he enjoys cycling and snowboarding. He lives with his family near Salzburg.
Short-Bio: Arndt Hoffmann - smartShift
Arndt Hoffmann, Chief Strategy Officer at smartShift – with 25+ years of experience in the SAP transformation market serving as a Senior Advisor to the global CIO/CTOs looking for SAP business transformation in the coming years. Started his career as Consultant and Project Manager for Coopers & Lybrand’s, PWC Financial Services Unit in Germany- responsible for SAP Implementation projects in Europe. Later partnered to start smartShift, building the world's leading provider of Intelligent Automation for SAP Transformations™.
Short-Bio: Dan Harvey - retailsolutions
With over 30 years' experience in Retail covering Retail Operations, Supply Chain, and IT, Dans has spent the last 12 years programme managing large scale SAP transformation programmes including, ERP, BW, CAR, UDF, PMR, and Fiori apps to support head office and store functions. With a key focus on supporting businesses navigate the complexity of large-scale transformations and technical project.
Short-Bio: Stefan Gempp - Coop
Stefan Gempp is responsible for the team "IT Solutions MM/SD + Promotions" and was the project leader at the S/4 HANA migration at Coop. He joined Coop in 2017 and is working in the SAP environment more than 20 years.
Short-Bio: Sunjeev Gill - George
With 8+ years of experience within a high volume Clothing Retailer, Sunny has spent the last 6 years within Architecture implementing SAP ECC, CAR, BW, MPR and UDF across multiple Business Processes and Reporting. The main focus has been to work with SI Partners and ensuring the necessary architectural governance is in place to ensure design principles are known and adhered to.
Short-Bio: Guido Menkhaus - SAP
Guido Menkhaus developed billing systems for telecommunication companies and provided consulting for software intensive systems in the automotive industry before he moved his focus to customer centric supply chain planning in the retail industry for SAF and SAP. He is responsible for SAP CARAB in the Retail Supply Chain Planning product management unit.
Guido Menkhaus is a lecturer and trainer in the field of software engineering and software product management.
Short-Bio: Anders Wiklund - Axfood
Anders has over 15 years of experience of Retail and Supply Chain Management as well as experience of Demand management transformation projects from many different companies. He has worked in various roles such as Solution architect, Business Consultant, Project Manager, and Application Consultant. He likes to work in the area where business and IT meets, when the business is central, and IT is an important enabler.
Short-Bio: Jan Knorr - Gebr. Heinemann
Jan Knorr joined Gebr.-Heinemann in 2016 and is Senior Consultant in the team "Forecasting & Promotion Management". In this position, he is responsible for the integration of business processes, PP&C and Application management SAP CAR. He is envolved in the implementation of the new System Landscape (CAR/OPP) in Turkey for the Istanbul Grand Airport.
Jan started to work with SAP related processes in 2002.
Short-Bio: Nicole Wolff - Gebr. Heinemann
Nicole Wolff joined Gebr.-Heinemann in 2015 and is responsible for the team "Forecasting & Promotion Management". She is the IT project lead for the implementation of SAP CAR UDF and PMR at the Gebr. Heinemann Headquarter and the IT project lead for the implementation of PP&C at Gebr. Heinemann. In addition, she is responsible for Application management SAP CAR and SAP F&R.
Nicole works in the SAP Environment since 2004.
Short-Bio: Mariusz Kwiatkowski - Pets at Home
During 15 years of retail and direct-to-consumer career, Mariusz has overseen multiple large-scale commercial and business improvement initiatives. A unique blend of business, IT and data skills enables him to find pragmatic solutions to rapidly growing and changing business needs. He's currently leading a supply chain transformation project within Pets at Home - the biggest pet care provider in the UK with over 450 stores and extensive online presence.
Short-Bio: Anna Ihme - Axfood
Anna Ihme joined Axfood in 2013 and has been responsible for the IT side of the Assortment solution since then. The main focus in recent years has been the co-innovation project with SAP of the Assortment Planning for Grocery.
She has over 20 years of experience of working with SAP including Retail and Supply Chain Management projects.
Short-Bio: Karl Bend - retailsolutions
Karl has over 15 years’ experience in retail performing many roles across the supply chain. For the last 10 years his primary focus has been on forecasting and replenishment topics, with extensive knowledge of SAPs UDF, F&R and RPL solutions.
Short-Bio: Tobias Eriksson - Axfood
Tobias has been with Axfood since 2015 mostly working in SAP implementation projects focusing on business process development in supply planning, order management and warehouse automation. Currently he is involved as BPO in the last stages of UDF rollout as well as starting up F&R MER implementation project.
Short-Bio: Patrick Peper - Neptune
Patrick Peper brings 15 years of experience in selling technical products, including SAP add-on products, always with a focus on user interfaces. In addition to sales experience, he also brings a technical interest and understanding of modern applications and UX scenarios.
Round Table S/4HANA transformation
with leading Retailers, SAP and retailsolutions experts
Cool things are out there: Metaverse, AI, Smart Stores. To utilize these trends, a solid and non-siloed foundation is required. Transformation is key! But how to get there? These questions will be discussed in the round table. And for sure, you could ask your questions as well.
How customers & SAP meet challenges in the future of retail?
Stefan Binkowski will moderate the round table with retail experts from well-known companies, such as:
Stefan Binkowski
SAP
VP Retail & Wholesale Advisory
Information for your Registration
Please note that the number of participants is limited to 200 registrations due to capacity.
b'mine Hotel Frankfurt Airport
Georg-Baumgarten-Str. 1
60549 Frankfurt
Need an accomodation during the forum? We have reserved a limited contigent of rooms for a special rate directly in the event location. If you would like to take adavantage of this offer, feel free to contact our event team.
The participation fee for the event is 599 € excl. VAT per person.
The fee includes:
- participation in the presentations and keynotes
- a copy of all approved presentations following the event
- coffee, other drinks and lunch on both days of the event
- evening event on the first day of the conference
Travel, accommodation and other expenses are not included in the registration fee.
Cancellation:
Cancellation of your registration free of charge is only possible in writing until 15.08.2023 at the latest. After that date, the full registration fee will be charged. It is of course possible to transfer the registration to another colleague.