All field notes

SAP · Retail cloud

Intelligent Returns

I led product development for the first product SAP’s retail cloud line shipped.

  • Stage: 0 to 1
  • Product and systems
  • Returns and post-purchase
Q2 2023
Launched
First
Product the line shipped
Dozens
Of user interviews behind it

The problem

Every return has a sunk cost, and a retailer needs a way to manage it. SAP was building a product for that. It had already slipped a year, and the retail store line around it had no roadmap.

What I did

I led product development. We interviewed dozens of the people who would use it. Then I narrowed the first release: the warehouse use case came out, so that returns across stores and online could ship first. That kept the launch from slipping again without closing off what came later.

What changed

Intelligent Returns launched in Q2 2023, the first product the line shipped. The roadmap behind it won a $10 million engineering investment.

Stuck somewhere between order and cash?

Bring the messiest part. That’s usually where I’d start anyway.

Book a meeting Email me Follow me on LinkedIn

I’ll tell you plainly if I’m the wrong person for it.