Project: DECALIVERY

Problem – Business need

Solution

After a deep analysis of the current infrastructure and existing connections, the solution provided by DACH Bridge was to create an inter-store communication application to serve all Decathlon Stores in Berlin. The application was integrated with the already available ERP system which served as an essential source of information for product availability.

Once all five Decathlon locations in Berlin were connected, the stores could easily keep track of total stock availability. The app is used from the first conversation with a customer asking about a product, that currently isn’t available at the location. Right then and there a delivery order can be dispatched and the product is sent directly to the customer’s address on the very same day.

Everything happens within minutes and there is virtually no waiting time. The application includes QR code scanning for easy and fast user experience.

Approach – Implementation approach

The aim of the project was to make it possible to order a product missing from the store (let’s call it store A) where the customer currently was, from another store (store B) and have it delivered to the customer’s home on the same day. If the item isn’t available, it can be immediately ordered from any of the other four Decathlon locations in Berlin (B, C, D and E) where the desired item is in stock.
The seller in store A can quickly check via reference number or QR code the availability of the item and send an order, create a delivery appointment and fill in the details of the customer.

The confirmation is then sent to Store A (where the order is created) and the customer goes to the cash register to pay.

The cashier uses the app to find the order and scans the barcodes of the ordered items directly from it.
All the following steps now happened in the app – after the order is marked as PAID a notification goes out to the other stores (B,C, D or E) and the logistics employee uses the app to prepare the order, mark it as ready for shipment and send an order to the shipping company with all details (package size, delivery date, address, etc.).

The end result was that the client has the goods delivered either on the same day or at a preferred date and time while also being able to track the status of the order.

Among the many functionalities were, automatic order routing, order splitting, order rerouting.

A powerful admin panel was developed for the project, allowing administrators to track and manage orders and employees. The panel had additional value as it provided a vast variety of statistics and reports on products, store and individual productivity and efficiency.

Result – Benefits

The end result was a complete transformation of the work process. The convenient custom application improved the effectiveness and efficiency of the sales and logistics department.

Furthermore, the statistics and data extract is fully digitalized.

The application developed by DACH Bridge helped Decathlon maximize the benefit of assets already available and made them even more competitive against other retailers in Berlin.
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Backend APIs

The solution integrates multiple existing APIs from Decathlon (for data about stock availability, price, description and images) and different logistic partners (for automating order processing).

A service pulls data from all hubs and transforms and pushes it to centralized database each 24 hours, so centralized reports can be generated.

Android App

A single app distributed to all employees (with roles). When first started it shows a list of HUBs for the user to select manually.

Once selected the user will be presented with the respective list of Decathlon stores. From this point the app will automatically configure itself for this hub.

Admin Panel

Each hub has its own local admin panel that enables local and global admins to manage reports, orders and users.

A centralized admin panel provides unified reporting across hubs is provided for global admins. It has a page with links to all local hub admin panels from where global admins can manipulate orders and users.

AWS

All services are hosted in containers. Amazon Elastic Container Service is used for container management.

To provide high availability at least two instances of each service are hosted in two containers distributed on separate hosts.

Deployment is automated using Code Build and Code Pipeline.