Marco de Vries, CEOOpenbravo was founded in Pamplona in 2001 as a provider of open-source horizontal ERP solutions, serving diverse businesses and public sector organizations in different countries. Under the leadership of De Vries, the company moved the needle and decided to focus on specialty retail as it is one of the markets that witness the most disruptions. Today the company does not offer an ERP anymore and has become a brand to be reckoned with in the retail-tech domain with its Openbravo Commerce Cloud solution suite.
Openbravo Commerce Cloud is a flexible and cloud-based software suite that consists of five key components that work seamlessly integrated to facilitate the digitalization of entire retail and omnichannel operations. The first component, Openbravo Commerce Central, is a back-office solution that empowers retailers to attain real-time and comprehensive visibility of their omnichannel operations, facilitating centralized management and efficient decision-making. Users can manage their products, prices, special offers, and inventories across all channels and locations from a single location. It also allows users to promote new products instantaneously across all stores via online and offline channels. The second component is Openbravo Order Management System (OMS), an adaptable retail omnichannel OMS that helps stores and warehouses to optimize order execution and management. The third component, Openbravo Store, is an advanced multi-store software solution that helps retailers manage their entire physical store network from one single point and transform the in-store shopping experience with key components such as mobile POS, clienteling, real-time inventory visibility or self-checkout. It allows the stores to act as fulfillment centers to support omnichannel scenarios such as Click & Collect (BOPIS), Ship from Store, cross-store sales and returns, online orders returned in the store (BORIS), and more.
The fourth component, Openbravo WMS, is a comprehensive inventory and warehouse management tool that helps retailers gain a complete view of their stocks and control the flow of inventory. Finally, Openbravo Reporting, a TIBCO Jaspersoft-based module, offers users omnichannel reporting and analysis capabilities so that they can improve decision-making and improve operations efficiency. Since the suite is geared around high levels of modularity, Openbravo’s clients relish the freedom of utilizing only the functionalities and parts of the solution that fulfil their requirements. The standard ‘out-of-the-box’ version of the solution is easy and quick to implement, enabling retailers to focus on user training and change management which are both key elements for any successful implementation process. Openbravo can be accessed and utilized across any device with a browser and internet connection, providing users with high levels of accessibility. One could argue that the rationale behind Openbravo’s immense success is its revolutionary products. But what one could also observe is that the impetus of that very success is the company’s team of intrapreneurs who go the extra mile to ensure that clients leverage their solutions to the highest potential.
For the partnerships with our clients, it's more about the spirit of long-term collaboration. We have a very high client retention rate. We have clients who have been with us for ten years who continue expanding their business and global footprint
During an implementation process, Openbravo dives deep into its clients’ requirements and follows an iterative approach while configuring the solutions accordingly. Its teams integrate the solutions with existing systems to ensure streamlined and smooth transitions. Openbravo has certified partnerships with industry giants such as SAP and Adyen, enabling clients to implement a pilot system within months in either AWS and Azure. The sheer speed and scale at which Openbravo resolves its clients’ nuances is the epitome of its capabilities as an industry behemoth and showcases why several mid-market and large brands and retailers actively vouch for it. Elaborating on this, De Vries adds, “For the partnerships with our clients, it’s more about the spirit of long-term collaboration. We have a very high client retention rate. We have clients who have been with us for ten years who continue expanding their business and global footprint.” To paint an evocative picture, De Vries cites the customer success story of Magasins BUT, France’s second-largest home furnishings retailer.
Magasins BUT operates over three hundred large-format stores across France with an annual turnover of approximately two billion euros. The company employed Openbravo across all these stores for managing retail as well as in-store clienteling operations. Associates in the stores use Openbravo point of sale functionality from mobile devices to assist customers, check stock availability and related special offers, offering shoppers personalized services, and providing sales representatives with great opportunities to upsell. Openbravo has scripted similar success on several other occasions, even during the covid-19 pandemic. “Openbravo for years has been ready for omnichannel commerce. Our clients were already in an optimal position to tackle the pandemic. Since the popularity of omnichannel skyrocketed, we received more requests from our existing as well as new clients,” adds De Vries. Considering omnichannel commerce is now the lynchpin of success of any retail business, Openbravo is constantly investing in its solutions and improving the functionalities of its products. The company is growing faster, and its future looks brighter than ever.
