GK Software, a leading provider of innovative commerce solutions for global retailers, today announced a partnership with Adyen, ​the financial technology platform of choice for leading companies​. The collaboration will integrate Adyen’s advanced payment solutions with GK Software’s CLOUD4RETAIL suite and OmniPOS platform, creating a unified, scalable solution for retailers worldwide. This integration provides streamlined backend operations, enabling faster time to market. Both companies are working closely together, planning to add more integrated functions soon.

“With combined global reach and local expertise, the GK-Adyen collaboration positions retailers for confident expansion into new markets while meeting evolving consumer expectations. This partnership exemplifies GK’s goal to accelerate time to market and deliver measurable value to retailers,” said Orit Bar-Ad, Chief Innovation Evangelist at GK Software.

​​​Hella Fuhrmann, Country Manager DACH at Adyen, added: “We are excited to partner with GK Software to redefine retail payment experiences. By combining our technology with GK’s platforms, we’re helping retailers enhance efficiency, deliver exceptional customer journeys, and scale successfully across markets.”

The benefits of this collaboration will be showcased at NRF 2025, where both companies will demonstrate how their integrated solutions empower retailers to thrive in an evolving marketplace.

About Adyen 

Adyen (ADYEN:AMS) is the financial technology platform of choice for leading companies. By providing end-to-end payments capabilities, data-driven insights, and financial products in a single global solution, Adyen helps businesses achieve their ambitions faster. With offices around the world, Adyen works with the likes of Meta, Uber, H&M, eBay, and Microsoft. The cooperation with GK as described in this release underlines Adyen’s continuous growth with existing and new clients and partners over the years. For more information, visit Adyen.com 

• The company will join a significant portfolio of technology providers to provide omnichannel options for LCBO customers

GK Software, a global leader in comprehensive retail applications for real-time omnichannel business systems, is pleased to announce a multi-year partnership with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) as part of its transformational Future State Modernization (FSM) program. As the LCBO announced earlier this year, it will replace legacy systems - including ERP, order management and point-of-sale - with streamlined, commercial-off-the-shelf solutions. The program will re-build and strengthen the foundations of its IT infrastructure.

LCBO’s FSM program is designed to introduce operational excellence by leveraging technology to integrate processes, data and systems, which will improve speed to market and support best-in-class employee, wholesale and retail customer experiences.

After a competitive procurement process, GK is proud to be among the selected technology providers for this project, which includes industry leaders such as Adobe, Blue Yonder, Manhattan Associates, Microsoft, Mirakl, Opterus, Pegasystems, SAP and Salesforce. 

GK Software's CLOUD4RETAIL suite was selected to provide a range of innovative solutions, including various POS solutions, Smart Label and Store Inventory Management (SIM), designed to increase customer engagement, streamline operations and provide more omnichannel options for LCBO customers.

“Customers expect a seamless omnichannel shopping experience,” said Michael Jaszczyk, CEO, GK. “We are very excited to be a part of LCBO’s modernization journey and help them deliver that top-notch customer experience.”

To learn more about how GK’s CLOUD4RETAIL platform helps innovative retailers provide an exceptional omnichannel experience, visit: https://www.gk-software.com/us/solutions/cloud4retail

• GK Named a Leader in Q4 2024 Analyst Report on Point-Of-Service Solutions  
• Independent research firm ranks GK highest in the strategy category, gives GK the highest possible score in the innovation criterion  

GK Software today announced that Forrester Research, a leading global research and advisory firm, has named GK a Leader in its latest POS Solutions report. 

Digital channels are playing an increasingly important role in the customer journey – shopping expectations, in-store experiences, and growing customer self-service demands have put POS in the spotlight. The Forrester Wave™: Point-Of-Service Solutions, Q4 2024 also assessed the strength of POS vendors' strategies. GK attributes its score of 4.00 in the “Strategy” category to its innovation strategy. GK received the highest possible score of 5.00 in criteria within this category such as innovation, roadmap, and partner ecosystem. GK also received the highest possible score of 5.00 in the criteria of in-store checkout and hardware compatibility, as well as globalization and localization. 

“Retailers need a POS solution that accelerates their time to market and reduces burdens on their in-house development as well as ongoing maintenance. Our platform is built to deliver that—giving them the flexibility and openness to rapidly enable new apps and services, leverage retail-proven AI, and tap into a partner ecosystem. We see this recognition from Forrester as acknowledging our commitment to meeting our customers’ evolving needs, and to us, it’s a testament to our relentless focus on delivering solutions that drive real impact for retail leaders everywhere”, said Orit Bar-Ad, Chief Innovation Evangelist at GK Software. 

In 2024, GK had been recognized in the Leaders Category for Worldwide Retail Loyalty Platform Software Providers by IDC MarketScape, among other reports. The company has furthermore recently established a new Customer Success Organization to drive forward innovation with its clients and has committed to including new item recognition and age verification features in its roadmap, as well as to support endless aisle in the POS UI. 

• GK achieves the largest position worldwide for new POS software installations in grocery
• GK is the second largest supplier of new POS installations across industries and worldwide

According to the recently published Global POS Software 2024 study by strategic research and consulting firm RBR Data Services, a division of Datos Insights, GK is the second largest provider of new POS software worldwide in the study period July 2023 to June 2024 and measured by all new installations in eight industries analyzed. GK delivers 8% of new installations in the global retail market. In terms of new POS software installations in the food retail sector, GK takes first place with 15% of installations worldwide. The firm analyzed the installation figures of more than 140 POS software providers in 48 countries. Only projects with more than 1,000 POS systems were taken into account.

GK's core markets are primarily Europe, where the company is the second-largest provider, accounting for 19% of all new POS software installations in the region, as well as the USA, where GK implemented a similar share in the food retail sector. However, strong growth in the Middle East and Africa region also contributed to GK's good performance. Here, GK achieved 50% of new installations, particularly with its South African customer Shoprite.

GK results show that roll-out with new customers as well as growth and expansion with existing customers is progressing well and projects are being implemented quickly. Michael Scheibner, CEO of GK Software: “In 2024, GK was able to roll out a large number of POS projects worldwide, e.g., with new customers, and grow in existing customer projects, thus further expanding its strong market position. I see our extensive customer pipeline for 2025 as an indicator of further sustainable growth.”

About RBR Data Service

RBR Data Services provides clients with independent and reliable data and insights through published research, consulting and bespoke data services. Its global research is used by the leading market participants in the cards and payments, retail technology and banking automation sectors.

GK Software, a global leader in comprehensive retail applications for real-time omnichannel business systems, today announced its attendance at NACS Show 2024, which will take place Oct. 7-10, 2024 in Las Vegas. GK has a longstanding relationship with NACS, and GK will demonstrate a full range of solutions for convenience retailing at the show.

Solutions that meet the needs of convenience retailers

The number of convenience stores in the U.S. has increased for two consecutive years, according to NACS, and GK is uniquely positioned to help drive continued growth for c-stores. GK solutions boost customer loyalty and enhance the shopper experience, whether it’s authorizing payments at the pump or ordering food.

GK technology supports the entire store and beyond, including fuel, forecourt and backcourt. Each of its solutions is modern, open, flexible and extensible, so c-store retailers and partners are not held hostage by their POS vendors and can easily adjust GK’s offerings to their specific needs.

GK will highlight the role it can play at each key touchpoint across the c-store. Topics and presentations at the show will include:

• POS and payments solutions: GK’s POS and payments solutions, such as OmniPOS and MobilePOS. give convenience retailers the flexibility to serve their customers when and where it is most convenient for them.
• GK Engage: GK Engage enables c-stores to design and execute scalable loyalty programs with full control.
• GK AIR: The GK AIR product portfolio delivers ready-to-use AI applications for personalization, dynamic pricing and predictions in real time.

GK’s convenience momentum

With a large customer base both in the U.S. and internationally, GK is rapidly becoming the “go-to” modern solution for c-store retailers everywhere. At the last NACS Show, GK announced a joint integration with Comdata, and since then, GK has also had an accomplished year of winning industry recognition through awards. Notable wins include: 

• GK’s AI solution, GK AIR, won the RetailTech AI Solution of the Year award.
• GK achieved placement on the RIS (now Chain Store Age) Leaderboard for customer satisfaction, implementation process and offerings for tier one retailers across all sectors.
• GK’s CTO Eddie Deyo won a Globee award for his achievements in spearheading the company’s shift to cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) technology.
• GK customer RaceTrac’s Tyler Grubbs was selected for the Future Leaders in Convenience Class of 2023 from Convenience Store News and the 2023 Influentials: Top Movers and Shakers in Retail award from RIS News (now Chain Store Age). Tyler was instrumental in improving RaceTrac’s technological capabilities and customer experience, and his work with GK has delivered exceptional results.

“GK is thrilled to once again participate in the NACS Show,” said Robert Green, sales director, GK. “We’re looking forward to not just sharing more about our solutions, but also learning from everyone there.”

To learn more, visit GK at their booth (#6404) or contact GK here. As well, GK will be hosting a social event around the show, so please reach out to GK if you’d like to attend.

GK Software, a global leader in comprehensive retail applications for real-time omnichannel business systems, is showcasing its full portfolio of solutions based on the industry-leading GK CLOUD4RETAIL platform at Groceryshop 2024, which will take place Oct. 7-9, 2024 in Las Vegas. GK’s cloud-based, omnichannel solutions are ideally suited for the multi-format needs of today’s grocery retailers, from large-format store to fuel service, hospitality and convenience.

GK CLOUD4RETAIL provides a unified commerce platform for all the company’s applications, which work together seamlessly to improve the customer experience. Solutions include:

• POS and payment solutions: GK’s OmniPOS and MobilePOS give grocery retailers the flexibility to serve their customers when and where it is most convenient for them. 
• GK Engage: GK Engage enables retailers to design and execute scalable loyalty programs with full control. 
• GK AIR: The GK AIR product portfolio delivers ready-to-use AI applications for personalization, dynamic pricing and predictions in real time.. 

GK will also demonstrate solutions from its partners, including Opterus, a leading provider of task management solutions, and TruRating, whose CEO will be a speaker at the conference. The GK booth at Groceryshop, #A152, is also adjacent to its partner Fujitsu Frontech, the self-checkout business unit of Fujitsu.

GK recognized as a technology leader in retail and grocery

GK is the fastest growing global POS provider in new installations over the last three years, and it has recently been recognized in key reports from industry analysts. GK was ranked as a leader in the IDC Marketscape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Vendors in Grocery and Food Store Retail 2022 Vendor Assessment and the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Retail Loyalty Software Providers 2024 Vendor Assessment.

Other notable wins include:

• GK’s AI solution, GK AIR, won the RetailTech AI Solution of the Year award.
• GK achieved placement on the RIS (now Chain Store Age) Leaderboard for its customer satisfaction, implementation process and offerings for tier one retailers across all sectors.
• GK’s CTO Eddie Deyo won a Globee award for his achievements in spearheading the company’s shift to cloud-based point-of-sale technology.

“Grocery retailing is a key focus for GK, and we are fortunate to work with some of the industry’s leading grocers in the U.S. and Europe,” said Bill Miller, VP of sales, GK Software. “GK’s footprint in grocery continues to grow, and we’re pleased to showcase our solutions for the first time at Groceryshop.”

To learn more, visit GK at their booth (#A152) or contact GK here. As well, GK will be hosting a social event around the show, so please reach out to GK if you’d like to attend.

We’re honored to announce that GK and adidas recently earned Gold Winner status in the “Customer Experience Initiative” category at the 2024 Convrt Awards!

GK and adidas together received the recognition for our combined success in crafting a connected shopping journey across the sporting goods company’s extensive network.

With GK, adidas has amplified consumer benefits and empowered staff through innovative checkout options for its nearly 2,000 stores worldwide. In addition, adidas has achieved stock accuracy of over 99%.

But this award-winning partnership did not come together overnight. Here’s how we developed a unified experience together:

Adapting New Technology to a Complex, Global Operation

With nearly 2,000 stores around the globe, adidas runs a complex operation that requires flexibility and constant innovation.

Prior to partnering with GK, adidas faced the challenge of increasing complexity within its stores, driven by evolving retail technologies and challenges with legal adaptations. The retailer’s goal was to adapt to new consumer technologies amid growing logistical and regulatory problems, all while maintaining a seamless and personalized shopping experience both online and offline.

Through our partnership, adidas successfully amplified consumer benefits and empowered its staff through innovative checkout options.

Maintaining Seamless, Personalized Shopping Experiences

GK’s seamless integration with RFID-based inventory tracking systems in adidas stores has helped the retailer to streamline logistics, improve inventory accuracy and enhance product availability across both its warehouses and stores worldwide.

GK also supports adidas’ adherence to local regulatory requirements, enabling the global retailer to re-allocate resources that were spent supporting regulations to more critical priorities like helping shoppers and driving sales.

Additionally, by upgrading its point-of-sale system to GK’s OmniPOS platform, adidas has established a comprehensive shopping experience across all sales channels.

Since implementing our solutions, adidas shoppers can register and be identified at various point-of-sale touchpoints including mobile, stationary checkout and click-and-collect. The latest GK and retail merchandise management setup equips employee devices that allow adidas to offer a fully connected and integrated mobile experience on the sales floor.

Driving Impressive Results With a Truly Collaborative Partnership

As adidas and GK’s accolade suggests, this partnership has been a resounding success.

With the integration of omnichannel shopping touchpoints, adidas has witnessed an increase in both sales and customer satisfaction.

GK’s integration with adidas’ RFID tracking system guarantees high on-floor availability at each store, enabling swift replenishment of items and creating true inventory visibility for all omnichannel processes. As a result, adidas has achieved stock accuracy of over 99%.

The new IT infrastructure also accelerated overall store processes. Rather than performing tedious internal tasks, store employees are freed up to focus on what they do best: serving shoppers on the sales floor, creating an overall more positive and consistent consumer experience.

“The satisfaction of customers and employees worldwide is adidas’ highest priority,” said Andreas Bierlmeier, adidas senior director, digital store solutions. “Future-proof and flexible technologies ensure the best possible customer service in the store and webshop. With OmniPOS, we are able to implement new trends quickly.”

GK is grateful to work alongside long-time partners like adidas that believe in our capabilities and set new standards in the world of commerce. Recognition from the Convrt Awards is a testament to GK’s commitment to excellence and innovation in providing seamless and unified customer experiences.

Contact us today to learn more about how GK works with leading retailers like adidas to create experiences that delight shoppers.

On the weekend of July 12-14, 2024, our team at GK Software had the pleasure of co-sponsoring the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend in Des Moines, IA for the third year in a row.

A leading retail chain with almost 300 supermarket locations and another 200 convenience stores in many Midwestern states, Hy-Vee has been a valued customer and partner of ours for over six years. The grocer employs GK’s OmnichannelPOS, Transaction+ Payments and GK Drive solutions in the store and at the pump, and it has expertly created a seamless and cohesive customer journey for shoppers at every touchpoint. Needless to say, we have enjoyed our partnership immensely!

Taking part in the race weekend festivities is certainly a highlight of our Hy-Vee partnership, as we also spent the weekend with an innovative set of our treasured customers and partners. This year, similar to years past, we were glad to educate one another on retail technology and expand not only our GK community, but also our customers’ communities.

All that being said, let’s recap the weekend.

We enjoyed the races and concerts, including Post Malone

The INDYCAR Race Weekend is characterized by its two races at Iowa Speedway and surrounded by first-class entertainment. We were proud to offer special accommodations to our visitors for the entire event.

The first race, the Hy-Vee Homefront 250, took place on Saturday, and we loved watching Scott McLaughlin claim the victory. We also enjoyed the second race on Sunday, the Hy-Vee One Step 250, in which Will Power took home the title of victor. They were both competitive races and incredibly entertaining.

We not only enjoyed attending the races with our visitors, but we also enjoyed concerts from popular artists including Luke Combs, Eric Church, Kelsea Ballerini and Post Malone. It was a joy to watch and listen to some of our team’s – and our visitors’ – favorite songs live!

We both learned from and educated our partners on the shopper experience

While the races and concerts were fun, the weekend was first about education.

A major highlight of the event was hosting workshops and presentations with customers and partners to talk about GK solutions and best practices in retail engagement. Attendees discussed the different ways and solutions they’ve leveraged to best enhance the shopper experience – especially within fuel and convenience. We were thrilled to hear folks remark about how it’s unusual for IT leaders to have an opportunity to interact with one another and widen their interpersonal networks. The intimate conversations we facilitated are expected to inspire new ideas for delivering customer engagement.

Along with the workshops and presentations, we took tours of four nearby stores – three of those being Hy-Vee stores – that allowed participants to see firsthand the workings of GK’s solutions.

Looking forward to next year’s INDYCAR Race!

While we were proud to attend the race weekend, we are even prouder to create space where our community can engage in discussion, learn and grow from one another. We are excited to continue to uplift and support our partners that are working with us to innovate with our retail customers. We’re already counting down the days until next year’s INDYCAR Race Weekend, will you be joining us?

Contact us today to learn more about GK’s solutions and ways to get involved.

Consumers today expect a customized shopping experience at every point of the customer journey. For retailers, personalization is an effective tool to meet the interests and needs of their customers. For over 25 years, we have been looking at how retailers can best achieve this, because personalization means more than just displaying product recommendations in the online store. In this article, you can read about five unusual application scenarios for successful personalization in practice.

1. Omnichannel personalization using the example of e-readers and voice assistants

360-degree personalization across all customer touchpoints enables retailers to take their customer experience to a new level. Whether in the online store, in the app, in the newsletter or in the store, personalized content achieves a much higher customer response. However, other devices that are not immediately associated with personalization can also target users with individual content.

Personalized book and audio recommendations viaTolino eReader

Thalia Bücher GmbH not only inspires its customers with personalized content in various online stores, newsletters and apps. Readers also benefit from real-time product recommendations by GK AIR on their own tolino brand e-readers, e.g. on the home screen or after finishing a book.

Personalized audio recommendations via the Alexa voice assistant

1-2-3.tv also implements a personalized customer approach at various touchpoints. Customers can use the Amazon Alexa app to connect live to the 1-2-3.tv auction TV channel and then ask Alexa for various information, e.g. about current auctions or whether products offered by 1-2-3.tv that match their interests can be recommended. You can find out exactly how 1-2-3.tv uses the Alexa voice assistant in customer communication here.

2. Personalization in the area of gamification

The use of playful elements in retail is an exciting tool for retailers to draw the attention of potential customers to their own offers and motivate existing customers. Used skillfully, retailers can boost their sales. Personalization can be a helpful tool here to achieve a high response rate. In fashion retail, for example, a style advisor can help customers find an outfit that matches their preferences. In addition to the user's clicks, the style advisor or the associated AI takes into account the behavior of online shop visitors (e.g. this blouse is often bought together with these trousers) in order to suggest an outfit to customers that is highly likely to match their taste. Gamification applications like this are often a big attraction for us at trade fairs - because they arouse curiosity and provide variety. Here is an example in cooperation with the gamification provider BRAME. 

3. Replenishement recommendations based on online and offline purchases

Everyday products typically include food, personal care products, household cleaners and other everyday items. Consumers need these products at certain intervals - it is easy to forget to replenish them in good time. To avoid this problem, we rely on replenishment recommendations by GK AIR Personalization in customer projects. These are recommendations of previously purchased items at ideal time intervals, i.e. the appropriate product recommendation is displayed at a time when the customer is most likely to have used up the product (e.g. body lotion). This is based on past purchases in the online shop/app and in the store, where the purchase data can be recorded using the customer card, for example. These replenishment recommendations are displayed directly in the online store or newsletter at the appropriate time.

Would you like to use these personalization scenarios for your customer communication or do you have your own ideas for possible application scenarios? We implement the most diverse forms of personalization for leading retailers - contact us!

The first point-of-sale (POS) technology was born in 1879 with the invention of the cash register, enabling retailers for the first time ever to conduct and record transactions within the same platform. What’s more, 50 years ago, the first Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode was scanned on a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum, setting a new standard for quick shopping lines and an efficient shopping experience.

Now, POS technology has evolved to serve a myriad of purposes. Especially as data has been digitized and transactions can now be recorded automatically in the cloud, retailers have limitless possibilities for their POS systems.

Innovation in the area of the POS is not going to stop any time soon. IHL reports that 58% of the largest U.S. and Canadian retailers plan to select a new mobile POS solution in 2024, demonstrating that the industry is taking notes on POS evolution: retailers must look ahead to stay ahead.

To help retailers stay innovative, GK’s Cloud4Retail platform offers a number of options that can empower those interested in reimagining their POS systems and capabilities. With a future-forward system, retailers will be able to provide a smoother customer experience that will foster loyalty fit for today’s retail landscape.

Centralizing the POS to ensure a future-focused approach

In the day and age of unified commerce, retailers that implement separate POS platforms on separate channels are already three steps behind. Legacy solutions simply no longer meet customer needs.

GK’s OmniPOS offers retailers a centralized platform, which enables uniform data management and clear communication structures. What’s more, by centralizing POS functions, retailers can avoid isolated applications, and they reduce service costs and maintenance efforts.

With data entry, updates, transactions and more happening in real time across any device, retailers – and their customers – are granted the freedom of choice. The type of device no longer creates a barrier to the possibilities of the POS, and retailers can react quickly and uniformly to changes in the market. This ultimately serves the customer well, as it creates the most customer friendly POS experience possible.

Mobilizing the POS to enhance satisfaction

Shopping looks very different now than it did 20 years ago, and it is sure to evolve even more. That is why the retailers that push the boundaries of when and where shoppers can shop are leading the way in the industry.

GK’s MobilePOS allows retailers to deploy mobile retail concepts on any device to meet the demands of today’s shoppers. Whether in-store, on the sidewalk or across town in a pop-up store, it offers unrestricted deployments that can seamlessly connect with the rest of the GK Cloud4Retail platform or an existing POS infrastructure. This makes access to the data that retailers need easy and efficient.

With a mobile solution like GK’s, retailers can turn employee tablets and smartphones into modern POS devices that serve customers where it is most convenient for them.

An intuitive POS is also customer-first

An intuitive POS system that can react to a customer’s any need, wherever and whenever they need it, is crucial for a successful retail business. It goes without saying that retail is built on the customers; the industry must continue to innovate and rise to the challenges of the changing landscape.

Contact us today to learn how GK can help you reimagine your POS.