UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is working with Accenture, AWS and SAP to improve its commercial systems, increasing its ability to respond to changing business needs and optimising technology costs.

The multi-year transformation programme with German software company SAP will mean Sainsbury’s systems grow alongside the retailer’s plans. It should also improve price and promotions execution, resulting in a more tailored value experience for customers.

Through the consolidation of its legacy systems, Sainsbury’s aims to achieve increased business agility through cloud-based options, as well as a simplified and cost optimised technology estate.

SAP has been appointed to lead the design in partnership with lead transformation partner Accenture (www.accenture.com) and cloud provider AWS (aws.amazon.com).

The transformation will enable future flexibility and allow Sainsbury’s to respond to evolving customer propositions and needs. By adding capability and capacity to its commercial systems, the retailer should be able to manage products on promotion in increasingly flexible ways, allowing a more tailored value experience for shoppers.

The project should benefit customers, suppliers, colleagues and shareholders, simplifying and integrating Sainsbury’s systems and tools into one cohesive platform and creating a single ecosystem for Sainsbury’s staff and suppliers to communicate. This should reduce complexity and improve efficiency for suppliers, helping drive returns.

“We’re excited to be working with a brilliant partner network in SAP, Accenture and AWS to completely revolutionise our commercial systems, which are the heart and lungs of our business operations,” said Rhian Bartlett, chief food commercial officer at Sainsbury’s. “This is a huge step forward in our next-level Sainsbury’s plan, as we continue to invest in market leading technology that allows us to keep growing at pace and maintain our momentum towards becoming first choice for food.”

Leila Romane, managing director for SAP (www.sap.com) in the UK, added: “I feel incredibly proud to be partnering with Sainsbury’s on this transformation programme. We all appreciate the opportunity in front of us and, with our valued ecosystem partners, match Sainsbury’s ambition to set a gold standard across the food retail industry to drive growth and provide an exceptional customer experience.”

Sainsbury’s (www.sainsburys.co.uk) has almost 600 supermarkets and more than  800 convenience stores.