Multinational Carrefour relies on SAS AI to optimize supply chain management and reduce food waste

Carrefour uses SAS Viya to become the first French retailer using AI to increase availability of merchandise in-store and online

News provided by

SAS

Jan 14, 2019, 10:02 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 108^th NRF Big Show and EXPO -- Retail giant Carrefour has chosen SAS^® Viya^® to optimize its supply chain as part of the company's global transformation plan to better meet customer expectations through advanced technologies. Carrefour aims to create a unique online and in-store shopping universe where the most suitable merchandise for recognized loyalty customers is guaranteed any time, any place. The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize the supply chain is a first for the French retail sector.

Carrefour is meeting the challenge of omnichannel distribution and inventory optimization by using SAS Viya to collect and process data from stores, warehouses and e-commerce sites. Analysis of the data will improve downstream forecasting and upstream ordering with suppliers – reducing waste and overstocks.

Following an 18-month test period, SAS Viya will be deployed at Carrefour in a way that allows procurement and replenishment teams greater agility for integrating working methods and continuously improving forecasting processes. Robust, secure, open and elastic, SAS Viya stores and processes large volumes of data and will allow Carrefour's experts to develop tailor-made algorithms to meet their specific needs.

"The SAS Viya deployment will allow us to take a step forward in our supply chain optimization. Artificial intelligence will free up time for our teams to focus on developing differentiated forecasting strategies and best meet our customers' expectations while reducing waste," said Franck Noel-Fontana, Forecasting Director at Carrefour France.

SAS and partner Capgemini will offer Carrefour technological and business expertise throughout the deployment.

"With so much talk about AI, it is projects like this one at Carrefour that help separate the reality from the hype," said Oliver Schabenberger, SAS Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer. "We have seen incredible advances in making algorithms perform – with stunning accuracy – tasks that a human could do."

To learn more, download this SAS white paper Assisted Demand Planning Using Machine Learning for CPG and Retail.

Follow SAS on Twitter at @SASsoftware and @SASRetail. Follow NRF 2019 news at #SASatNRF.

About Carrefour

With a multiformat network of 12,000 stores in over 30 countries, Carrefour Group is one of the world's leading food retailers. Carrefour serves 105 million customers worldwide and posted sales of 88.24 billion euros in 2017. The Group has more than 380,000 employees who contribute to making Carrefour the world leader in the food transition for all, offering quality food every day, accessible everywhere and at a reasonable price.

For more information, visit www.carrefour.com, Twitter (@CarrefourGroup) and LinkedIn (Carrefour)

About SAS

SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW^®.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2019 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE SAS