Reading, UK, 15 April 2015. In just seven months from the start of the project, the German drugstore chain Rossmann has implemented Stibo Systems STEP solution as its product information system (PIM) and is now mastering over 60,000 articles. With the new EU Regulation 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, which came into force in December 2014, Rossmann needed a solution that could master all article data to include the calories and nutritional value of each item, the article's origin, list of ingredients and details of substances that could trigger allergies or intolerances. This information is managed centrally and is available for sales channels such as the Internet shop.
In Stibo Systems, Rossmann found a partner whose market-leading master data management system, STEP offered great flexibility and unlimited scalability. The first phase of the project focussed on the system-side implementation of product information specific to foodstuffs and the mapping of the nutrition declaration.
In further phases, STEP will scale to become a central hub for master data. At the same time, processes to assure the quality of the data used in different departments at Rossmann will be improved further.
"We sell a total of around 17,000 articles in our 3,253 drugstores across Europe, and we also have an online shop. We wanted a solution that could process a wide variety of data relationships and support a multi-channel approach", says Sebastian Meyer of Rossmann, who was responsible for the PIM strategy and implementation. The STEP implementation went very quickly, in part because most of Rossmann's requirements could be met by configuration within the Stibo Systems solution. Moreover, the configurable rules and workflows ensure data consistency across all the relevant parts of the company.
In addition Rossmann chose STEP because of its particular competence in supporting internationally positioned retail companies as well as the solution's user-friendly interface design and its simple integration of suppliers and external data pools. "We are very pleased about the success of this project", says Manfred Heckt, Managing Director of Stibo Systems. "It shows once again what high performance users can expect from our master data management solution."
ROSSMANN's foreign companies (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Turkey and Albania) grew 11.7 percent to €1.85 billion (prior year: €1.65 billion) and thus contribute more than a quarter of the company's total revenue. ROSSMANN now operates 1,334 drugstores outside Germany (Poland 993, Hungary 183, Czech Republic 121, Turkey 31 and Albania 6). The company's investment volume this fiscal year will amount to €170 million. ROSSMANN plans to open 340 new stores, of which 155 will be located in Germany.