Clarks — SAP Transformation within Multi-Platform Retail Rebuild

RunFast Transformation RunHealthy Assessment

What did we help solve?

The Challenge

Clarks embarked on the STAR programme — a full refresh of the entire operational landscape, from point of sale and eCommerce through to supply chain and finance. Every system was redesigned and rebuilt using the latest technologies, with the technical architecture aligned to MACH principles and microservice event-driven design. It was one of the most technically ambitious retail transformation programmes attempted in the UK.

Clarks engaged Limelight to own the SAP components of the solution — a significant and complex workstream within a programme already operating at the boundaries of what SAP supports natively.

What we acheived

Solution

Limelight took ownership of the SAP workstream end to end — managing a series of significant upgrades, redesigns, and rebuilds across the Clarks SAP estate, alongside a sophisticated data migration and change programme.

The shift to an event-driven architecture was technically demanding. SAP's maturity in this space is limited, and the integration between legacy SAP systems and a modern microservice architecture required careful design and rigorous testing. Limelight ensured the migration from legacy to modern standard was completed cleanly, with all data structures intact and operational.

A concurrent POS and till replacement programme ran in parallel for twelve months alongside STAR — adding significant complexity to an already demanding delivery schedule. Limelight managed the interdependencies between both programmes, ensuring minimal downtime and no material supply chain disruption throughout.

What were the benefits?

Results

The Clarks ecosystem now operates on a state-of-the-art AI-driven platform, with a fully personalised customer experience across digital channels. Back-end systems — supply chain, order management, and fulfilment — are optimised for maximum margin. Finance has access to significantly improved tooling and reporting.
The SAP estate was successfully migrated to a modern event-driven architecture — delivered to the programme's demanding timelines despite the technical complexity involved and the absence of a mature SAP reference model for this type of implementation.
Two parallel programmes were landed simultaneously without operational disruption to a global retail business.

What Clarks had to say

The Limelight team were a fantastic addition to the programme and ensured our SAP estate was delivered on time and budget to hit our incredibly demanding timelines.

Meriel Neighbour
Head of Digital - Clarks