The figure shows the basic set-up of a Retail organization with the headquarters (US Retailer Inc.), and their distribution centers and stores. Additionally, there are the (external) business partners: suppliers for merchandise procurement, and customers (wholesale, re-sellers,..), and consumers on the sales side.
The parties involved in this process are the store and the customer/consumer. The customer buys/orders a product (e.g. from the shelf or via e-commerce business) and pays the invoice (e.g. at the cash-register). For specific purposes, it can be required that a sales order is created for the customer (for example for warranty purposes, or to gather the serial number of a high-value article).
The solution processes shown in the figure above, Process Overview: In-Store Customer Order Managementcontains two variants:
- Variant A: Immediate Pickup of General Retail Articles with warranty/serial number purposes - sales order is created
- Variant B: Pickup at Later Date due to Stock Unavailability - sales order is created and replenishment process is triggered
Both variants start with creating a sales order which is the basic document for the following process steps.
in the two variants the created sales order has different settings depending on the variant: In case the merchandise will be replenished internally, a purchase requisition will be generated automatically. On the other side, when the merchandise will be delivered from an external supplier, a purchase order has to be generated.
In both cases, the follow on documents of these sales orders are outbound deliveries. They are the basic for the logistical processes, such as picking, optional packing and posting the goods issue. All these steps refer to this outbound delivery and are displayed in the document flow. When posting the goods issue, inventory is adjusted and the financial accounts are posted. A delivery note can be printed before or after posting the goods issue. For legal requirements, you may need to attach shipping documents for goods identification for physical transport.
Sales Order Process
The sales order process shown in the figure above, General Sales Order process with DC fulfillment, shows the standard sales order process with merchandise shipping from a distribution center. The shipping process is started with generating an outbound delivery for the sales order. Then, after picking and goods issue posting, the invoice (billing document) can be created. It is also possible to have the merchandise shipped from the vendor to the customer directly.
There are many channels for placing sales orders. For example, customers transmit their orders by mail, fax, or telephone, they enter their order data online via the e-commerce system's (for example, from SAP Commerce Cloud) website or mobile app, or you can have the system upload the order data automatically using an EDI connection. Sales orders can also be maintained at stores using SAP Fiori applications.
Depending on the Customizing settings that have been made, when a sales order is created, your system executes functions like the following:
Scheduling
Various shipping activities are scheduled depending on the sales order document type.
Availability check
Depending on the schedule line category, the system checks availability on the staging date, which was determined beforehand by the scheduling function. If staging cannot be guaranteed, the system automatically generates new schedule lines.
Item/schedule line category determination
Your system determines an item category for each order item and a schedule line category for each schedule line for an order item.
Quantity optimizing (at item or schedule line level)
Quantity optimizing takes place at item level (or schedule line level when you are creating schedule lines manually) depending on the item category. The original quantity is retained and included in the documents belonging to the relevant sales order.
Depending on the item categoryin the sales order, the ordered goods will either be delivered from a site (item category TAN), or shipped from an external supplier to the store via the responsible DC (item category CBAB).
A sales order can contain items that belong to different item categories.
Cross-channel sales scenarios can also be mapped in the system. For example, a customer may create a sales order in the Retailer's online shop, and instead of regular delivery from a DC, select merchandise pick up in a specific store (click-and-collect). Another example: In a store, a sales order could be created using a SAP Fiori app for either pick up in own store, or for pick-up in another store, or for delivery from a DC.
In the following, both the stock reduction process, and the third-party process will be introduced. At the end of the lesson, the click-and-collect process will be introduced. UHO
Variant A describes the solution process where the sales order item is relevant for delivery generation, which means the goods are picked and shipped from either a DC or a store. When the outbound delivery was processed including the goods issue posting, then the billing due list for delivery-related billing is updated. With that, the invoice can be created. Responsible for that process variant is item category TAN, which is set up on item level in the created sales order. This process is called: Sell from Store - Immediate Pickup
In our example, a customer is in a home improvement (DIY) or super store and wants to buy an gas grill. Usually, this item is not sold over the counter, but can be picked up e.g. from a separate issue counter. It is also common, that the customer should get a warranty and/or a serial number. That means for this variant A, the customer receives an additional service along with the sales order (e.g., a warranty certificate, a serial number, a tax-relevant document, or a pickup slip).
In general, the sales order will be created, delivered, and billed by store associates using SAP Fiori applications. To make sales order processing as simple as possible, you can set up the system to automatically create the outbound delivery document for the sales order item. The store associate at the issue counter collects the merchandise and posts goods issue. Then, the invoice can be created.
Pickup of Retail Articles at later Date due to Stock Unavailability
The follow-on documents in the sales and distribution process are displayed via the Process Flowtab in the sales order. This allows you to display the history and the status of your order.
You can display the document flow as a list of interconnected documents. The sales order document flow shows the documents created referencing the order. The other documents also have a document flow display function, for example the outbound delivery, where you can see the sales order as a preceding document, as well as the subsequent documents, such as a picking request, and the goods issue material document.
From this list, you can display the relevant documents and status overview for the documents in question. This provides you with a quick overview of the status of your sales processes, thereby helping you to answer customer questions quickly and efficiently.
The process variant B - Pickup of Retail Articles at later Date due to Stock Unavailability - has the following steps:
First, a customer arrives in a store and wants to buy a product which is unfortunately not on stock. A sales order is created and automatically a purchase requisition has been generated in the background (because the product was not available in the store). Then, the purchase requisition is transferred into a stock transfer order (STO) and an outbound delivery - refering to that STO - has been generated, This OD is the central document in shipping, that means it is the basis for the following shipping activities such as picking, packing, and goods issue posting. All these steps referred to the outbound delivery and are displayed in the process flow. With posting the goods issue, inventory is adjusted and the financial accounts are posted.
In the next process step, the replenished products are delivered to the store and the goods receipt in the store is posted. This step refers to the outbound delivery (generated in the previous part). In the store, the process starts with a picking request, then the merchandise is picked and hand over to a shelf. Last step is the customer comes in the store to pick up his ordered product(s) and pays at the cash-register. In the system a billing document has been generated.
Summary
The key process flows covered in the tutorials for this process are to:
- Manage In-Store Sales Orders
- Schedule Purchasing Jobs - Advanced
- Schedule Delivery Creation
- Change Outbound Delivery
- Receive Products
- Create Billing Document
