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Case Study

Efficiency Starts with Procurement—How Tennis-Point Uses Hivebuy and SAP to Create End-to-End Processes and Lighten the Load on the Accounting Department

Tennis-Point, one of Europe’s leading omnichannel retailers of tennis and sporting goods, operates over 30 online stores and 30 brick-and-mortar stores with more than 500 employees across 8 countries. Hundreds of orders and invoices are generated daily—a process that used to involve an enormous amount of manual work for the accounting department. With Hivebuy, Tennis-Point has established an end-to-end procure-to-pay workflow that is fully integrated with SAP S/4HANA: digital approval as early as the ordering stage, automatic invoice capture via OCR, account assignment at the line item level even with varying tax rates, and real-time transfer to SAP. Today, the entire invoicing process runs in Hivebuy; in SAP, almost nothing happens afterward except for the payment. The accounting department’s workload has been reduced, and the monthly closing process has been accelerated.

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Highlights of the Case Study

From Order Chaos to a Streamlined Process—How Tennis-Point Is Digitizing Its Purchasing with Hivebuy:

Initial Situation: No documented ordering process, manual invoice verification and posting, and a lack of transparency in the approval process
Solution: End-to-end procure-to-pay workflow with digital approval prior to ordering and intelligent OCR invoice capture
SAP Integration: Line-item-based posting, accruals by period, and real-time transfer to SAP S/4HANA, including general ledger accounts and cost centers
Rollout: Phased implementation across all departments and stores with high user acceptance
Results: Nearly fully automated invoice processing, faster month-end closing, and a significant reduction in the accounting workload

End-to-end processes from order placement to posting in SAP

1

The Challenge: Manual Invoicing Processes Slow Down Accounting

Before Hivebuy, Tennis-Point had no formally documented ordering process. Invoices were checked and posted manually, approval processes lacked transparency, and even simple tasks like naming PDF invoices tied up staff time. The existing tool for indirect procurement was too outdated, especially for employees at the decentralized stores.

2

The Solution: Hivebuy as a Procure-to-Pay Platform with Full SAP Integration

Today, purchase requests are submitted directly in Hivebuy—via free text, the internal catalog, or a connected online store. Once digitally approved, the order is automatically triggered. Invoice management captures incoming invoices via OCR, matches them to the corresponding order, and posts them to the appropriate account at the line item level—even when different tax rates apply. The data is transferred to SAP S/4HANA in real time, including general ledger accounts, cost centers, and tax codes.

3

The results: The invoice is approved before SAP even sees it

Today, invoices are almost entirely checked, approved, and posted automatically. The monthly closing process is accelerated because journal entries are prepared on a period-by-period basis, and all stores and departments work in the same system. Read the full case study to learn more about the new workflow in detail and the success factors that drove the rollout. Download now.

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