Chicago—Dec. 4, 2013—hybris software, an SAP company and commerce platform provider, announces that Red Bull implemented a new global business-to-business (B2B) order management portal based on the hybris B2B Commerce solution. The portal, known as the SOET 2.0 Solution, provides a flexible solution for quick and easy order entry for global retailers and distributors placing orders with the beverage brand across multiple channels. Launched in March 2013, the global roll-out was completed in June 2013 and 79 countries are now using Red Bull’s order management portal utilizing hybris’ B2B Commerce solution.
Founded by Dietrich Mateschitz in the mid-1980s and inspired by functional drinks from the Far East, Red Bull is currently available in more than 165 countries. As part of its global expansion strategy, the company was looking for an order management solution that could deliver all the functionality of its incumbent in-house solution on a flexible platform. Prior to selecting hybris, Red Bull used an in-house solution that was time-intensive to maintain, and lacked the scalability needed to support business expansion and multi-channel commerce. Red Bull also needed a solution that provides a quicker and more efficient shopping experience for retailers and distributors.
According to Christian Stoxreiter, head of Red Bull’s business application team, “We needed a commerce platform that delivers an exceptional level of service to our B2B customers. The flexibility of our new and innovative online B2B store enables us to provide a user interface that creates a highly personalized shopping experience for our customers, as advanced as any of the best business-to-consumer (B2C) sites customers are accustomed to using.”
On evaluating the market, hybris stood out due to its ranking by Gartner[1][1], in addition to the ease of integration with Red Bull’s existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from SAP. Additional benefits experienced on implementation were hybris’ master data management and order orchestration capabilities which, teamed with an intuitive user interface, streamlined the order processes for Red Bull’s customers and minimized the company’s total cost of ownership.
The platform was implemented by hybris’ partner, exc.io, using the hybris B2B Commerce Accelerator, a production-ready, customizable, multi-channel framework designed for B2B trading.
The flexibility of the solution enables it to support Red Bull’s indirect and direct sales models, with the additional capability for large regions to act as sales hubs for smaller surrounding landscapes. Its extensive order tracking system provides Red Bull with the ability to export to a wide range of formats and develop separate purchasing conditions that are tailored to the B2B portal.
“While there are undoubtedly greater complexities involved for the B2B market, the simple truth applies for both B2B and B2C—the success of acquiring and retaining customers depends heavily on delivering exactly what they want,” said Mark Holenstein, senior vice president, EMEA, at hybris software.
[1][1] Magic Quadrant for e-Commerce (May 2013)
