Digital and technological transformation with a focus on efficiency

In recent years, the DIA Group has been implementing a digital transformation process involving all levels of the organisation, with a twofold objective: to improve the company’s operating efficiency and to leverage one of the company’s most valuable assets: the extensive knowledge of its customers, offering solutions that are adapted to consumers’ new shopping habits. With this outlook in mind, the company focused on the following projects in 2017.

During 2017, the company worked on improving its value proposition in online sales in Spain, with an increase in the number of delivery times (even on the same day as the order is placed), as well as the rollout of a new application that allows customers to shop from their mobiles in Spain, the activation of customer applications in the markets of Argentina and Brazil where it was not yet present, as well as the digitalisation of commercial services to streamline the processes, reducing the number of administrative tasks.

Reinforced commitment to online sales:

The omni-channel concept developed by the company in recent years has placed it in an unbeatable position in the online shopping segment. The DIA Group is at the forefront of the digitalisation of services in the retail distribution sector thanks to increasingly digitalised in-store services, the online sale of non-food products, and synergies between the extensive network of physical stores and the online channel.

Improved time to market

As of last year, the DIA Group has been developing an ambitious project that implies re-engineering and digitalising its main commercial processes. This project has led to benefits such as the optimisation and standardisation of processes, the complete digitalisation of information as well as its traceability, and a reduction in time to market thanks to a better execution of the processes. The solution chosen for the digitalisation of the processes is the AuraPortal tool, a software package by BPM (Business Process Management), one of the leaders in the sector, which allows processes to be modelled, implemented, and operated.

Thanks to this implementation, in 2017 the DIA Group won an international award from the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), which values the DIA Group’s ability to successfully develop an innovative, wide-scale project. The Workflow Management Coalition awards are given to organisations that have stood out by implementing innovative solutions in their business processes with the aim of achieving their strategic commercial objectives.

In parallel with these projects, DIA is also working on a project to digitalise the POS (point of sale) systems at its stores in Spain. This is a new IT system that allows the company to centralise its back-office functions that are necessary to manage the stores (stock control, orders, etc.).

In order to implement this project, the company has had to integrate a new architecture into its centralised systems, acting as a platform from which to process all the information, not only in a centralised way, but in real time. Access from the point of sale is carried out through a new graphical user interface that has been developed based on criteria of productivity and ease of use by store staff.

The new architecture, centralisation of functions, real-time management, and graphical user interface have allowed the DIA Group to digitalise a large number of processes, eliminating the use of paper and making the processes much more efficient.

During 2017, this system was implemented in more than 110 own stores and franchises, which are acting as testing grounds ahead of the rollout to the entire store network planned for 2018. In parallel, the company is developing the content necessary for the rollout to the other countries in which it operates.

Stock management project

As part of the DIA Group’s ongoing “Listening to the customer” programme, during 2017 the company started a transversal project (which applies to all the countries in which it operates) focused on managing and improving the stock levels of specific products in stores, which is one of the main customer requests identified by DIA.

Accordingly, an international work group has been set up, which focuses on two courses of action:

1. Improve the setting up of parameters related to automatic orders.
2. In-store stock management.

This project has led to all of the store replenishment processes being reviewed, from orders and logistics to store management.

Talent search and digital training:

In order to simplify its customers’ lives while improving its business model, in 2017 the DIA Group launched its Nexus programme. The aim of the programme is to promote a digital innovation ecosystem through which entrepreneurs and new companies worldwide are able to access the DIA Group’s database of more than 40 million customers, test their solutions in stores in Spain, and access the expertise that DIA Group employees have built up over more than three decades. In its first edition, four projects aiming to define the future of shopping were selected from more than 120 proposals received from more than 25 countries:

For more information on this initiative, please refer to the website especially set up for this programme (www.nexusbydia.com).

Another priority for DIA is to ensure that all of its employees are trained in all aspects of digital transformation. With this in mind, in 2017 the company set up the Digital Transformation School, and to date more than 1,000 employees from the group’s headquarters have benefited from this initiative. The aim is to provide a space where digitalisation can be dealt with through cultural change in the company, while providing the necessary tools and concepts to implement this change. Therefore, this project aims to focus on previously identified training priorities, provide a network of leading trainers and the necessary training resources, and to then measure the successful shift from the analogue world to the digital world.

Investment in customer-centric and store management applications:

Over the last year, the DIA Group has set up a transversal working group in which employees from all the countries in which the company operates are involved. This aim of this group is to develop, in-house, new digital applications focused on improving the experience of customers, franchisees, and employees. This has led to the implementation of several applications that have been rolled out in a simple and fast way across all the countries in which the company operates.