🌍 What is happening in the world of fashion, sport, outdoor & lifestyle?
Retailers are rapidly moving towards a PLM–ERP–AI architecture.
Not as a project.
As a structural shift.
The sector is consolidating around three pillars:
- • PLM as the single source of truth for product development
- • ERP as the stable operational backbone
- • AI as the intelligence layer for planning, forecasting, and allocation
This is not a technology choice.
This is value chain redesign.
Oracle is gaining momentum — faster than expected
Oracle is rapidly strengthening its position in the European fashion, sport, and lifestyle sector, with concrete moves such as:
-
ANSWEAR.com (2025)
Premium fashion e‑commerce retailer from Poland modernises planning with Oracle Retail AI Foundation to improve inventory forecasting and support international growth [1]. -
Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf (2025)
Replaces its entire SAP landscape with Oracle Cloud (finance, warehouse, retail) [2]. -
WE Fashion (2025)
Redesigns merchandising and supply chain with Oracle Retail Merchandising Cloud Services and Oracle Fusion Cloud WMS [3].
Why Oracle is gaining momentum
Oracle’s strength lies in embedded AI — just like SAP.
But Oracle emphasises operational intelligence:
- • merchandising
- • forecasting
- • supply chain automation
- • embedded AI agents that execute actions
Oracle delivers AI embedded in Fusion Cloud Applications and Oracle Retail, including:
- • predictive AI
- • generative AI
- • AI agents for supply chain and merchandising
With at its core:
- • Oracle Retail AI Foundation
- • Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications
Why this matters for C‑level
Oracle’s embedded AI is not a feature.
It is an operational power factor.
AI that:
- • sits deep within core applications
- • supports decisions and executes autonomously
- • automates processes through AI agents
- • steers merchandising, forecasting, and supply chain operations in real time
SAP also offers embedded AI.
But Oracle uses AI as an operational lever — exactly where retailers are losing margin today.
What this means for retailers
This is not IT optimization.
- • decisions that take minutes instead of days
- • planning that no longer relies on manual intervention
- • inventory accuracy with direct impact on the P&L
- • lead times that become competitive
- • scalability without additional FTEs
This is operational performance steering at board level.
And that is exactly why Oracle is gaining ground.