HORNBACH Baumarkt Selects Blue Yonder To Accelerate Its Omni-Channel, Customer-Centric Strategy

Today, retail offers a wide range of opportunities. Retailers must consistently focus on the needs of their customers if they want to be successful – even in the future. Tech innovation is accelerating. Consumers want to be free to decide whether they want to shop in the store or via smartphone or computer. Optimally, it should all be connected. Retailers are looking to innovate, add new services, and deliver experiences that consumers love, but they often face a costly and expensive fix because their tech stack was not built for modern experiences with efficiency in mind.

That’s why, as a pioneer in innovation and one of the leading DIY retailers in Europe, HORNBACH Baumarkt has selected Blue YonderInventory and Commits Services, part of Blue Yonder Order Management solutions.

HORNBACH Baumarkt is the largest and most important subsidiary of HORNBACH Holding. HORNBACH Baumarkt operates DIY megastores with garden centers and online stores in nine European countries. The DIY retail segment accounts for around 94% of consolidated sales for the company, with nearly half of these sales generated in Germany. Measured in terms of productivity, HORNBACH Baumarkt is the No. 1 DIY retailer in Germany by sales per square meter of sales area, based on the calculation principles of the BHB branch organization. In addition to its in-store business, the retailer has an online business, including click & collect, which accounts for around 13% of total sales. The DIY retailer offers an average of 50,000 items at its stationary stores and up to 290,000 items online.

Given the strong customer-first culture of the company and the strategic relevance of its online sales, HORNBACH Baumarkt decided to optimize the omni-channel order experience from search through purchase and delivery. By engaging customers with reliable information at the beginning of the shopping journey, HORNBACH Baumarkt will increase conversion and deliver more satisfying shopping experiences.

HORNBACH Baumarkt chose Blue Yonder because of its differentiated approach to optimizing omni-channel operations, the deep understanding of the order process, and the unique vision and strategy for the future of the supply chain.

Blue Yonder Inventory and Commits Services will allow HORNBACH Baumarkt to:

• Empower customers with options, knowledge and choice, delivering a consistent and frictionless experience, thereby improving customer satisfaction.
• Provide accurate, real-time, network-wide inventory visibility and availability across all channels.
• Optimize order fulfillment, taking into accounts costs, capacity, time, and other business parameters.
• Drive rapid innovation for customer-facing services, while modernizing the tech stack.

“As part of our Interconnected Retail strategy, we prioritize customer satisfaction and continuously evaluate our processes to enhance the customer experience,” said Nils Hornbach, member, Management Board, HORNBACH Baumarkt AG. “Our internal assessment revealed the need for a further development to improve order management across channels and provide a seamless omni-channel purchasing journey. After a thorough vendor evaluation, we selected Blue Yonder for their specialized expertise and market-leading order decisioning capabilities. Their architecture and technology ensure rapid time-to-value, scalability and performance, making Blue Yonder our preferred choice to support our digital transformation journey. This will give us an advantage in inventory availability and fulfillment, that will create high value for our customers. We look forward to collaborating with the Blue Yonder team.”

Blue Yonder’s flexible microservices-based solutions approach, embedded with machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), will help HORNBACH Baumarkt to optimize the entire omni-channel customer journey, starting with an engaging customer experience through efficient order fulfillment. The retailer will also be able to accelerate its in-store and digital business to gain an advantage through a model that supports rapid implementation.

“HORNBACH Baumarkt is leading a game-changing transformation, focused on customer centricity and we are proud to welcome them among our customers,” said Gael Ramaen, vice president, EMEA Retail, Blue Yonder. “Blue Yonder Order Management solutions are engineered to scale, perform and operate under the highest volumes seen on the market. It can transform order management with an augmentative, composable approach, which delivers rapid time-to-market. We cannot wait to support HORNBACH Baumarkt in speeding their ongoing digital transformation.”

Additional Resources:

• Solution Sheet: Inventory Availability and Order Optimization
• E-book: Microservices: Your Next Big Move Just Got Smaller
• Learn more about Blue Yonder Order Management microservices

About HORNBACH Holding

HORNBACH is an independent, family-run, and publicly listed major company that generated net revenue of 6.2 billion euros in the 2023/24 fiscal year (balance sheet date: 29 February 2024). This makes the HORNBACH group one of the five largest home improvement and garden retailers in Europe. Founded in 1877, HORNBACH is the only company in the home improvement industry with a history spanning six generations. The company currently operates 169 home and garden centers, two specialist stores, and online shops in nine European countries. The sales concept and product range are particularly geared to the needs of project customers and professionals. HORNBACH guarantees its customers permanently low prices, making it the price leader in the industry. The company’s high quality of advice and excellent service have been recognized in numerous independent tests and studies. With pioneering achievements such as the first combined home and garden center (1968), the first megastore (1980), and the first home center with a drive-in facility (2003), HORNBACH is continually at the forefront of innovation. For decades, HORNBACH has been regarded as a job creator, with more than 25,000 employees now contributing to the company’s success. HORNBACH Holding

About Blue Yonder

Blue Yonder is the world leader in digital supply chain transformation. Retailers, manufacturers and logistics service providers worldwide rely on Blue Yonder to optimize and accelerate their supply chain from planning through fulfillment, delivery, and returns. Blue Yonder’s AI-driven supply chain platform and multi-enterprise, multi-tier network enable more accurate forecasting and dynamic management of capacity, inventory and transport. Blue Yonder helps businesses navigate modern supply chain complexity and volatility with more resilient, sustainable supply chains to delight customers, scale profitably, and run flawlessly. www.blueyonder.com

“Blue Yonder” is a trademark or registered trademark of Blue Yonder Group, Inc. Any trade, product or service name referenced in this document using the name “Blue Yonder” is a trademark and/or property of Blue Yonder Group, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of the companies with which they are associated.

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