SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition ready for retailers
SAP will show the now-generally available retail industry vertical platform for S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition at next week's National Retail Federation event.
The retail- and fashion-specific platform for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is now generally available and provides customers with purpose-built functionality for merchandising, store replenishment and omni channel fulfillment.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for retail, built from the ground up on SAP's flagship public cloud ERP system, is a SaaS offering aimed at companies of all sizes, according to SAP. The ERP giant is showing the platform’s functionality at National Retail Federation 2025: Retail's Big Show.
"Whether you're a franchisee with a handful of stores or the biggest retailer out there, there's a certain level of complexity that comes with running any retail business, especially with consumers who expect a very flexible fulfillment experience," said Kristin Howell, global vice president of retail solution management at SAP in a briefing with Informa TechTarget. "In order to really fulfill these expectations profitably and meet the needs of these consumers, we believe that this retail-tailored ERP solution is going to make the difference for them."
SAP also introduced two new services related to the S/4HANA Public Cloud Edition for retail platform. One is a new loyalty program application that takes data from the S/4HANA Cloud ERP system and applies AI to create profiles around customers and their shopping behavior and preferences. The second is a generative AI shopping assistant intended to help consumers find products via natural language questions. The integration with the ERP system on the back end means that retailers can provide specific information like the current availability of stock.
Retailers are looking at technology like AI to help them move into new channels, find new streams of growth, new marketplaces to sell their products, new ways to engage with consumers and new ways to work with suppliers to find efficiencies in their supply chain, Howell said.
A public and vertical future
The retail edition marks important progress for SAP in an ERP future that will be focused on public cloud and vertical applications, said Jon Reed, co-founder of Diginomica, an enterprise industry analysis firm.
Vertical applications like the retail edition of S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition are important for meaningful AI functionality, as the silos between ERP systems and proprietary industry applications no longer meet the current needs of retailers or consumers, Reed said.
"You can't serve modern retail customers with those [siloed applications], nor can you effectively cover over those silos with AI," he said.
The retail edition is a good step for SAP, as many customers outside of professional services firms have been waiting for SAP to bring more industry depth and functionality to S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition before they consider it as an enterprise ERP option, Reed said.
"But time will tell if SAP will do the same for other important industry editions like manufacturing," he said.
Jim O'Donnell is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial who covers ERP and other enterprise applications.
