Update on Hudson Next – Hudson’s Expansive Digital Transformation Project

Nearly two years ago, Hudson embarked on an ambitious digital transformation journey known as Hudson Next. While Hudson has been pursuing business transformation and operational model enhancements for years, such as the continuous reinvention of retail concepts, product assortment and operations, there was a need to systematically improve technology, organization, processes and procedures to keep up with business needs and growth while continuing to align with the Dufry Group.

Designed to maintain leadership in the market and elevate the team member experience while building on current strengths, Hudson Next focused on three key areas of development:

• Innovation – Through the integration of new, cutting-edge technologies, Hudson can evolve with the changing customer demographics, drive sales and transform its back-end information architecture.
• Engagement & Communication – In order to invest in the growth and success of its diverse team member demographic, Hudson needed to focus on maximizing team member engagement and productivity while improving HR processes in the areas of recruitment and learning.
• Collaboration – The development of a unified way of working collaboratively between both corporate teams and locations, supported by data-driven processes, will allow Hudson to work more effectively.

During the past two years, Hudson has achieved significant success within the Hudson Next umbrella. In September 2019, Hudson rolled-out Beekeeper to its entire North American operations, strengthening the communication and collaboration between frontline team members, corporate teams and executive leadership. Additionally, the digitalization of HR processes, including the launch of Dufry Connect and Travel Experience University, allowed the HR team to develop the strategy to improve the team member experience.

However, the biggest digital transformations came from a collective Hudson team effort, engaging all departments and leveraging the support of the Dufry global organization, in the form of two significant project roll-outs: Flooid (previously known as PCMS) and SAP. These projects laid forth the foundation that will run Hudson’s business processes for the future by creating a new, integrated way of working for the entire business, including Finance, Operations, Merchandising, Marketing and Master Data.

Flooid, the new point of sale (POS) system, streamlined the way Hudson handled everything from product and assortment, to taxes and promotions. In only ten months, the Hudson team rolled-out Flooid to 940 duty-paid stores or the equivalent of more than 2,000 registers, all in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This significant undertaking was extremely important for Hudson’s continued pursuit of digital innovation, as it will allow Hudson to seamlessly and agilely roll-out new technologies that drive sales and meet changing retail trends – from self-checkout, to vending machines, to the Hudson Blue app (the Hudson version of Red By Dufry).

The SAP project is also on track to be completed by the end of the year. The implementation of SAP, an enterprise resource planning tool (ERP), will allow for all aspects of management of vendors, operations, financials and products. With SAP in place, Hudson will obtain better data to make the right business decisions and have overall leaner processes to more quickly adapt offerings to changing customer preferences and business needs. In a similar token, additional automation across the business will allow team members to spend more time focusing on customer and landlord needs.

The Hudson Next project has been an extremely large undertaking, all of which would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of all Hudson team members both in the field and in the corporate offices. When faced with the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation team quickly accelerated the projects, developing innovative implementation solutions that avoided onsite activities and embraced virtual training as much as possible. As 2021 approaches, Hudson looks forward to celebrating the achievements of the Hudson Next project as new digital innovations are rolled-out in-store to better serve the customers – a true testament to what it means to be the Traveler’s Best Friend.