In an era where retailers face margin pressure, complex customer journeys, and escalating expectations for agility, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is carving a distinct path—not by flooding the market with commodity services, but by tightly coupling domain expertise, proprietary IP, and outcome-based delivery models. As Abhijit Niyogi, VP and Retail Business Unit Head at TCS, explained during a visit to TCS’s London offices. “We don’t just implement tech—we co-own the outcome.”
One of the most illustrative examples is the long-standing partnership between TCS and Coop Denmark, a grocery cooperative with nearly 900 stores. Coop began a multi-year SAP transformation journey in 2019, but the true value began to materialize when TCS helped the retailer stabilize, operationalize, and now—optimize—the business post-implementation. “ERP success isn’t go-live. It’s value realization,” Niyogi emphasized.
What sets TCS apart in a crowded services landscape is its focus on filling the “white space” left by traditional ERP and commerce platforms. TCS’s Optumera™, for instance, is an AI-powered merchandising assistant that simulates scenarios for pricing, space, and assortment optimization—proactively recommending actions to boost revenue or outmaneuver competitors. “It’s like equipping your merchants with predictive binoculars,” says Niyogi.
Another flagship solution, OmniStore™, offers a unified commerce checkout platform that is as composable as it is scalable. Retailers such as B&Q (UK) and Croma (India) use it to enable everything from mobile checkout and contactless payments to personalized in-store promotions and “save the cart” features. Unlike monolithic POS systems, OmniStore’s microservices architecture allows retailers to plug and play only what they need.
With AI infused at the core, both platforms are now evolving toward agentic AI capabilities—intelligent assistants that not only learn from historical data but reason through new contexts to assist with tasks like promotions, inventory management, and customer personalization in real time.
But technology is just one part of the story. TCS’s philosophy revolves around strategic partnership, not volume-based sales. “We don’t work with 10,000 customers. We work deeply with a few hundred,” Niyogi said. Nearly 80% of TCS’s retail contracts are outcome-based, some even including gain-sharing models tied to business KPIs like forecast accuracy, store productivity, or revenue uplift.
For TCS, the path to transformation begins with operating model simplification, leveraging decades of domain and IT expertise to eliminate redundant roles, streamline governance, and align service levels to business metrics. As Niyogi puts it, “Retailers want fewer moving parts, not more dashboards. They want business impact, not just green IT SLAs.”
What this means for ERP Insiders
Operational transformation can yield returns that can fund ongoing digital transformation. Retailers embarking on ERP transformations should treat go-live not as an endpoint but a springboard for operational reengineering. TCS’s work with Coop Denmark illustrates the value of long-term stabilization, business adoption, and continuous optimization. Retailers should insist on value realization phases post-deployment—backed by KPIs—and use trusted partners to drive workforce alignment, supply chain agility, and personalized commerce initiatives from the core out.
Excellence as a GSI and ISV is a rare combination. TCS’s dual role as a systems integrator and software innovator provides unique leverage. Platforms like Optumera™ and OmniStore™ are not bolt-ons but composable, retail-native systems designed to fill ERP gaps. Optumera uses AI to dynamically optimize pricing and inventory strategies, while OmniStore ensures seamless checkout experiences across physical and digital channels. Together, they give retailers actionable levers for margin growth, customer retention, and omnichannel excellence—without abandoning existing ecosystems.
TCS’s USP appears purpose-built for retail modernization demand. In a global retail tech market expected to surpass $500 billion by 2030, TCS’s blend of verticalized consulting, patented solutions, and outcome-based services is a differentiator. While Accenture and Capgemini offer scale, few can match TCS’s domain depth and proprietary IP. The company’s approach—focusing on composability, business alignment, and agentic AI—is well-positioned to resonate with retailers under pressure to modernize without disruption. With a growing customer base in Europe and the Americas, and active co-innovation across platforms like SAP, Microsoft, and Oracle, TCS is poised to expand its influence as a strategic transformation partner to the retail elite.
