The Retail Innovators
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With EBITDA of 26.5 million euros, the previous year's figure was exceeded by more than one third (2020: 19.3 million euros). This was based on a significantly stronger increase in sales than in the previous year. Sales grew by 11.7 percent to reach 130.8 million euros (2020: 117.6 million euros), resulting in an EBITDA margin of 20.3 percent.
A major contribution to these results came from the acquisition of a total of 15 new customers in the CLOUD4RETAIL business, seven of them signing SaaS contracts. This demonstrates that GK is moving forward with the transition to the cloud business at an accelerated speed, and it continues to grow and be profitable in the process.
The company's full report is expected to be published on 28 April.
It’s clear that the more you know about your customers, the better you can anticipate their desires and needs. Successful ecommerce retailers are those that have implemented personalization to individualize the customer journey for every single shopper. Over the last few years, personalization has also found its way into traditional, physical retail.
Offering customers an extremely personal, relevant and positive shopping experience at every point of their journey is essential to helping retailers drive customer satisfaction and lifetime value. In fact, companies that excel at personalization generate 40% more revenue than retailers that do not, according to McKinsey.
If executed well, personalization should be invisible. AI-based personalization is similar to a game of chess. The technology recognizes the customer’s behaviors, or “moves,” predicts the chain of all possible subsequent events and then acts accordingly – recommending products – so that it wins “the game” by maximizing sales.
With today’s consumers, loyalty is up for grabs. 75% of consumers tried a new shopping behavior during the pandemic, and comparing stores, products and prices is now part of their regular habits.
Retailers can make their store the one a shopper chooses by recognizing what products they are looking for, even before the consumer themselves make it known. How, you ask?
AI-driven personalization can learn new rules automatically and in real time. This personalization is based on clicks, shopping baskets, past purchases, external and internal search queries and engagement on banners. AI-powered applications continuously and independently collect this data, recognize patterns and regularities and then make personalization possible right from the first click.
Additionally, personalization can be achieved in the following ways:
Real-time recommendations can be utilized as a consumer interacts with a newsletter or a retailer’s app. Showing personalized content and product recommendations generates more value by improving open and click-through rates. In addition, interaction on these channels can trigger push notifications with relevant offers directly to a shoppers’ phone.
Artificial intelligence can also suggest alternative products through image similarity. Image similarity analyzes factors like color and shape, and combines these factors with other filters such as price range or brand, ultimately helping shoppers find the perfect item. Image similarity has been shown to reduce the number of abandoned carts or returned items, ultimately increasing sales.
Comparison shopping is common. As a result, price is an important factor to a sale. However, it’s difficult for retailers with several stores to navigate factors that influence prices – including the supply chain, consumer demand and products’ relationships to one another. With AI-enabled dynamic pricing, retailers can react to internal and external factors, helping them to quickly and effectively establish optimized prices that are appealing to shoppers and meet their unique needs.
71% of consumers expect personalization, but true personalization is impossible to manage effectively without artificial intelligence. Across all customer touchpoints – including in store, online, newsletters and apps – retailers can be sure that unique, personalized scenarios reach shoppers.
Our AIR solution allows you to inspire customers with personalized shopping experiences, that also increase revenue and margins. Learn more about how we can help!
Their goal with the collaboration is to provide retailers around the world with a perfectly matched combination of scales hardware and software that offers consumers the best possible shopping experience. Within the scope of the technology partnership, GK will further optimize its OmniScale solution, based on the open platform GK CLOUD4RETAIL, for use on METTLER TOLEDO’s modern commercial scales.
OmniScale is based on the same software platform as GK’s other solutions and supports all types of scales used in retail – from counter scales, self-service and checkout scales to pre-packing systems. It utilizes exactly the same infrastructure as systems such as cash registers, mobile devices, or vending machines, thereby enabling retailers to run company-wide promotions and loyalty campaigns, be it in store, in retail catering, or at gas stations. Using OmniScale on METTLER TOLEDO’s hardware gives retailers the opportunity to implement innovative promotions on their scales, such as personalized recommendations or coupons, as well as allowing them to communicate with cash register systems or customers’ smartphones.
METTLER TOLEDO Retail scales are highly efficient, durable solutions with PC-based technology and standardized interface options. METTLER TOLEDO offers modular solutions for the fresh service counter, fresh produce departments, and the checkout area, complemented by a global service and support network to increase productivity and sales in food retail.
Under the agreed technology partnership, both companies will work to closely align their solutions and will give each other early notice of the deployment of new technologies and further developments
METTLER TOLEDO is a leading global manufacturer of precision instruments. The company is the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of weighing systems for use in laboratories, industry, and the food retail sector. METTLER TOLEDO is one of the top three suppliers in the field of complementary measurement technologies and a leader in the production of systems for automated pharmaceutical research and active ingredient development. As the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of metal detection systems, METTLER TOLEDO also offers support for manufacturing and the packaging industry. Further information on the company is available at www.mt.com.
In this series, we sit down with members of the GK Software team to learn more about their experience with the company.
I’ve been in the retail software industry for 17 years, working for companies like Retalix, NCR, Wincor-Nixdorf, Shell Americas, Flooid, and now GK Software.
I started my career in the retail software industry in quality assurance for commercial fueling customers and shortly after moved on to project and executive program management. And for the past six years, I’ve worked in retail software sales in pre-sales, and as a technical account executive.
There is much to like about GK and it’s hard to pinpoint one specific part, but I’d have to say a main part is the people. I interact with coworkers at all levels of the company daily and it’s clear how everyone here is committed to each other and goes the extra mile all the time.
Another aspect that I’d have to focus on is the GK Platform, Touchpoints and Enterprise solutions. From a technical standpoint, OmniPOS is a leading solution that uses latest technology and truly allows our customers to be creative and enhance their shopper experience creating unique customer journeys.
I’ve been a part of GK for a little over a year, but it was quickly apparent that the solutions are designed with the industry’s needs in mind. The App Enablement feature allows retailers to integrate with external apps and third-party vendors directly into a POS interface. As a result, our customers have the flexibility to design and develop their custom journeys, and third-party applications can integrate into GK OmniPOS in a matter of hours across all aspects, POS, loyalty, pricing, promotions, and payments.
CLOUD4RETAIL is the only platform on the market that delivers a single POS solution across all retail verticals and integrates aspects like payments and loyalty. And by all verticals, I mean all verticals, including grocery, fashion and department stores, hospitality (both quick service and table service), convenience and fuel, mass merchandise and more.
I enjoy spending my free time with my family, and riding motorcycles – both on and off road.
2021 proved to be another exciting year for retailers of all sizes and verticals, from navigating supply chain challenges and labor shortages to implementing click-and-collect services and cashierless formats.
GK was there every step of the way, reinforcing our mission to be the world's leading provider of comprehensive retail applications for real-time omnichannel business systems.
As we prepare for an even more exciting 2022, we've highlighted our top successes of 2021, including customer wins, product launches and our work with partners.
In 2021, GK saw significant global success, including:
2021 saw the announcement of CLOUD4RETAIL 5.19, the enterprise-class, unified platform for every retail format. The feature-rich open platform offers unrivaled time-to-market for retailers of all sizes to scale their business.
To usher in the era of contactless shopping, we also launched a new scanless format, GK Go, which helps shoppers check in, grab items, and pay on their phone or simply walk out of the store. Unique to other scanless formats, shoppers using GK Go can see their basket content, item information, prices, promotions and more at any point – not just after they leave the store.
GK has partnered with several companies to provide added value to retailers, including:
This past year, GK partnered with leading grocers, convenience stores, QSRs and full-service restaurants, fashion, and other retail segments to provide flexible enterprise-class solutions on the industry's most advanced platform.
Hy-Vee completed a full deployment of the GK OmniPOS, TransAction+ Payments and GK Drive forecourt solutions in all its convenience stores. The deployment enables Hy-Vee to deliver the same futureproof and scalable services to its customers at the pump and in the store.
You can read more about Hy-Vee's rollout in Convenience Store Decisions and Chain Store Age.
As we continue to help businesses power the modern retail experience, we look forward to a successful 2022!
Click here to learn more about our achievements over the course of 2021.
GK is proud to announce several milestones and accomplishments from 2021 that illustrate its position as the leading provider of innovative and flexible solutions for omnichannel retailers. The company's customer success, product launches and strategic partnerships have led to proven results, and GK continues to help businesses like Hy-Vee power the modern retail experience with its industry-leading solutions.
This past year, GK partnered with leading grocers, convenience stores, QSRs and full-service restaurants, fashion and other retail segments, to provide flexible enterprise-class solutions on the industry's most advanced platform.
Hy-Vee, an employee-owned retailer operating more than 285 stores in eight Midwestern states, completed a full deployment of the GK OmniPOS, TransAction+ Payments and GK Drive forecourt solutions in all its convenience stores. The deployment enables Hy-Vee to deliver the same futureproof and scalable services to its customers at the pump and in the store.
As well, in the second half of the 2021 fiscal year, GK won two more major SaaS customers in the U.S., amounting to approximately 10,000 new installations. These new customers underline the ongoing shift in demand towards cloud solutions.
In 2021, GK saw significant global success, including:
GK holds the top spot for new POS software installations by retailers worldwide, according to RBR Global POS Software 2021. To further highlight its accomplishments, GK was included in the Gartner Hype Cycle Report as a sample vendor in two categories — contextualized real-time pricing and unified commerce platform.
As well, GK was named a Representative Vendor in the 2021 Gartner Market Guide for Retail Unified Price, Promotion and Markdown Optimization Applications. It was selected for Dynamic Pricing by GK, an AI-enabled solution that allows retailers to optimize their omnichannel pricing strategies in real time and at scale, based on the full scope of their available customer and market data.
Just recently, GK was named to Forrester's Now Tech: Merchant Payment Providers, Q1 2022. The recognition highlights GK's TransAction+ solution based on market presence, geographic focus and vertical expertise. TransAction+ is the leading payment processing application for North America that integrates a variety of point-of-sale systems with a wide range of payment authorization providers.
GK announced the new release of CLOUD4RETAIL 5.19, the enterprise-class, unified platform for every retail format, in July 2021. Based on the open cloud platform, GK offers a comprehensive portfolio of market leading solutions for omnichannel retailers, including enterprise infrastructure, customer touchpoints, merchandize management and payment.
To usher in the era of completely contactless shopping, GK also recently announced the launch of its new scanless format, GK Go, which helps shoppers check in, take items, and walk out or pay on their phone. Unique to other formats, shoppers using GK Go can see basket content, item information, prices, promotions and more at any point – not just after they leave the store.
GK has partnered with several companies to provide added value to retailers, including:
"We are thankful for the demonstrated strong growth in 2021," said Michael Jaszczyk, chief executive officer at GK Americas. "Not only did we implement the most POS software installations for the third year in a row, but we also launched exciting capabilities like scanless shopping to help retailers keep up in this competitive landscape. We will continue to innovate in new and exciting areas in 2022, further expanding GK's capabilities as the leading provider of omnichannel solutions."
In order to further expand business in this region, GK Software Asia Pte. Ltd. was founded in the international business hub Singapore. It is GK's goal to increase business relationships with the region's leading retailers from this excellent location. GK customers are already using the company's solutions in their branches in China, India, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
GK Software SE is pleased to announce that Vikrant Bhalla has been appointed as the Senior Vice President & General Manager of APJ, effective 1st of January 2022. Bhalla is a highly customer focused and passionate retail enthusiast with over 20 years’ experience in leadership roles across the emerging markets. He will be based out of Singapore and lead the newly established GK Software Asia PTE. LTD reporting to Michael Dimde, Senior Vice President Global Sales – GK Software SE.
“We are experiencing incredibly strong growth across the globe as retailers accelerate their digital transformation efforts. Asia-Pacific & Japan’s market potential is huge and is propelling the retail industry, generating about three-quarters of global growth.”, said Dimde. “Vikrant is a proven business leader with a record of building organisations from ground up, delivering outstanding results and creating world class innovative solutions for clients. Vikrant’s leadership qualities and GK’s inherent value proposition of its open retail platform approach, clear cloud strategy and strong product portfolio are an amazing combination for APJ’s dynamic market.” Dimde added.
Bhalla joins GK, with in-depth knowledge and experience of the retail industry in the APJ region. Over the last two decades, he has worked in large blue-chip organisations such as Toshiba and IBM across Australia, UK and Singapore in various roles ranging from leading professional services, product management and regional sales leadership teams to help clients develop business strategies to transform for the digital future.
“I believe that delivering an engaging, highly personalised customer experience is the key to success for retailers especially in the difficult times we have all experienced over the last couple of years.”, said Bhalla. “My purpose with GK is to build a robust, fast paced agile organisation in the APJ region to help develop amazing customer journeys for our clients so that they differentiate and elevate for success.” he added.
The shutting of physical stores as a result of COVID-19 had effects across the globe. For the Latin America (LATAM) region, the pandemic was a catalyst for traditional shoppers to make a digital purchase for the first time. Consumers quickly turned to ecommerce as the shopping channel of choice, with retail ecommerce sales in Latin America growing 63.3% in 2020 to $104.60 billion.
Ecommerce has become an effective method for shoppers to get the products they need in LATAM, similar to the U.S. and Europe. Across the globe, retailers realized that they needed to prepare themselves for a future of omnichannel retail, and ensure that the path to purchase creates a seamless customer experience.
To successfully convert traditional brick-and-mortar consumers to shop online, establishing trust is a critical factor. Over the course of the pandemic, LATAM retailers have invested in either creating or updating online websites and mobile apps to improve the user experience.
This includes making a website or app easily navigable, as well as more personalized. For example, a grocery retailer can offer a "one-click add to cart" function, as well as the ability to search for items by department. Apparel retailers can highlight sales on their homepage, and share recommendations for items that have similarities in color, size or fabric. These strategies help the consumer find exactly the right product they're looking for, faster. Companies like Liverpool are great examples of this, as its webpage is enticing and easy to navigate.
According to the Mexican Association of Online Sales, from April to June 2020, ecommerce retailers witnessed a 90% increase in use, which reveals that consumers are receptive to online channels that make the shopping experience more convenient.
The point of sale is a critical cornerstone of the customer experience. For both digital and physical options, these channels can benefit from digital payments.
Credit and debit cards were responsible for 71% of ecommerce purchases within Latin America in 2020, making them the dominant digital payment method throughout the region. Many avoid digital payments in fear of electronic fraud, with 80% of ecommerce users in Mexico citing concerns. A solution that offers secure payment processing can ease consumers' concerns as they adopt these new payment options.
Offering additional payment options – including contactless – are opportunities to further build loyalty. With a single point-of-sale platform, retailers access uniform data management that can provide insights across channels to improve personalization in an end-to-end shopping experience.
LATAM is past the point of no return when it comes to digital adoption. For many LATAM retailers, before 2020, they lacked an online presence that was able to meet the demands of today's consumers. Now, to be successful, they require innovative solutions that incorporate omnichannel retail.
Learn more about GK's solutions and the industries to which we're bringing omnichannel innovation.
Shoppers who are ready to check out are looking for the path of least resistance. As one of the last steps in the customer journey, payment processes have the power to make or break a merchant. According to Forrester, an optimized payment solution can boost confidence and reduce disappointment with customers. In addition, it reduces the risk of data breaches and losing loyal customers.
GK's TransAction+ payment solution can help merchants of any retail vertical achieve these benefits and reduce the risk of losing critical customers. In fact, TransAction+ was recently recognized in Forrester's Now Tech: Merchant Payment Providers, Q1 2022.
There are several additional key benefits that an innovative payment solution can bring to the table as a strategic element to a merchant's business. Let's take a look at just a few of the many ways our TransAction+ solution can improve the payments process.
The average cost of a data breach in the U.S. is $8.64 million. To minimize this risk, merchants must consider certification for PA-DSS and PABP, as well as support for End-to-End Encryption (E2EE). For fuel retailers, EMV compliance is critical to ensure the burden of any fraud-related charges don't fall on them.
As payment options continue to grow, merchants must look for a solution that is able to evolve and incorporate new methods of payment. For example, GK recently partnered with Flexa to enable merchants to seamlessly accept dozens of digital currency payment options and easily adapt quickly to the future of payments.
In addition, a successful payment solution is routinely updated and enhanced to support the latest security, processor and card mandates.
Depending on the vertical or services offered, payments must meet a merchant's unique needs when it comes to serving their customers. For restaurants, this might look like a pay-at-table option. For grocers, this could be curbside payment capabilities.
More than half of Americans now use contactless payments, including mobile and QR codes. As a merchant, are you able to accept these payment options?
In addition to cost savings, the optimal payment solution is secure, flexible and resilient. Plus, it should be able to manage payment needs without requiring extra infrastructure.
Our TransAction+ solution does just that, and is a leading payment processing application for North America that integrates a variety of point-of-sale systems with a wide range of payment authorization providers.
Learn more about why GK was recognized in Forrester's latest payments research, and how we can help you improve your payment processes.
Worldpay serves more than a million merchants around the world, offering more than 300 payment methods in over 100 countries. Its expansive set of scalable global solutions are now available to all GK customers. That includes Worldpay’s omnichannel offering which is an integrated payment solution in the CLOUD4RETAIL OmniPOS standard product and provides a frictionless and convenient experience across shopping channels.
Worldpay’s new SoftPOS solution (PIN on Glass) is also integrated to CLOUD4RETAIL OmniPOS mobile POS, allowing retailers to use any NFC enabled Android device for both POS and Payment, with no need for an additional PED device. This will allow merchants to offer consumers an additional, elegant and easy way to pay at the aisle, even when using an attended checkout.
CLOUD4RETAIL is GK Software's flexible, open commerce platform providing services for the operation of integrated unified commerce environments from in-store and online touchpoints through to mobile devices. The platform is enriched by innovative services such as AI-based dynamic pricing, personalization, fraud detection, and mobile applications. Now optimized for leading cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, SAP Cloud and IBM, the extensive expansion and customization options of the various CLOUD4RETAIL services, can be used on a wide range of devices.
The Retail Innovators