SAP Uncovers Visibility to Help Hästens Beds Sleep Well

January 13, 2009

NEW YORK and WALLDORF, Germany - January 13, 2009 -

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SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced that Hästens Beds, a privately owned luxury bed maker and retailer, has deployed core SAP® solutions in record time, gaining transparency across all parts of its business. As a result, Hästens now tracks orders seamlessly across purchasing, planning and transportation, and has achieved a 100 percent line fill-rate on promised orders. The announcement was made at the National Retail Federation Convention, being held Jan. 11-14 in New York, NY.

Hästens is currently established in 28 global markets and continues to grow organically while also expanding sales in new markets. In order to keep pace with demand and ensure its 330 retail stores worldwide continue to provide the ultimate customer experience for purchasing its hand-crafted beds, Hästens implemented its SAP system ahead of schedule and under budget in 18 weeks.

"Hästens is striving to grow and reach strategic markets across the globe," said Dominic Luzi, CIO, Hästens. "We are still a midsize company, but by leveraging SAP's market-leading applications and best practices, Hästens is able to expand its business globally while upholding high standards for product quality, customer service and innovation."

Since its successful implementation of SAP software, Hästens has reduced operational complexity, increased efficiency and addressed the unique challenges faced by a growing international company that is both a retailer and manufacturer. Hästens has achieved numerous business benefits by implementing SAP solutions, including:

Warehouse inventory reductions of 67 percent;
External containers reduced by 60 percent;
Better visibility into quality issues enables effected orders to be addressed proactively prior to customer delivery;
Greatly increased inventory accuracy.

Utilizing software from SAP, including the company's flagship enterprise resource planning application, SAP® ERP, Hästens has streamlined operations to run more efficiently across its business. The analytic capabilities delivered by the SAP® Best Practices for Business Intelligence package enable better transparency in customer information, so that dealers and store owners can address changing market conditions quickly-critical in today's current economic climate. The use of the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application has improved the tracking of customer orders from arrival, across the purchasing and planning process to the transportation system and out to the customers. Order status can now easily be tracked online for up-to-the-moment insight, providing Hästens customers the outstanding service expected when purchasing one of the world's finest hand-crafted beds.

"SAP software helps retailers become more efficient so they can better serve their customers," said Verlin Youd, senior vice president, Global Trading Industries, SAP AG. "SAP solutions address the cross-industry end-to-end business processes that enable retailers of all sizes to be best-run businesses."

Hästens will participate in an SAP executive customer roundtable on Tuesday, Jan.13 at 8:00 a.m. EST. Media and industry analysts will have the opportunity to speak directly to Coldwater Creek, Hästens, Reliance Retail Limited and Wawa executives about their operations, future trends affecting their business and how technology is playing a key role in their strategies to weather the recessionary storm.

About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With approximately 76,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." For more information, visit www.sap.com.

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.

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