AI has become a well-discussed term in recent years, finally moving from sci-fi pipe dream to real-deal opportunity for businesses to improve efficiency and service. As everyday shoppers, we experience the effect of AI as recipients of personalized advertising and product recommendations. That’s not all it can do, though, as AI is becoming a powerful tool for in-store retailers to turn imprecise and inefficient backend processes into value-drivers.

But why do we need AI for this? It’s not like retailers have been starved for data analysis or don’t know how to run their businesses based on decades of experience and customer relationship building. And yes, technology has been improving nearly every aspect of retail for years. But even when retailers adapted advanced rules-based algorithms to ease the burden, their improvements were capped by the limited power of historical data to tell the full story – which it really never does.

In the last blog, we explored how replenishment can be automated to optimize sales with AI. Now, let’s take a look at two ways that AI can impact marketing processes in ways no other technology quite can.

Digital Signage

For well over a decade, retailers have relied on digital signage in stores to promote dynamic messages, ranging from store alerts to promotions. In some cases, it’s not only a driver for sales, but also a space that can be sold to CPG manufacturers as a branded display at the point of decision.

Yet, many retailers have failed to succeed in using these signs because they weren’t ready to hire people to keep the program effective – it takes a lot of work to create and update the content. It’s also really challenging to dictate behavior with a message or change mass buying behavior this way unless there’s a great discount available.

But now with AI, retailers can predict product sales far into the future and automatically push a related message to the digital sign. For example, ice cream is generally expected to sell less well in winter, but a sudden heat wave might have shoppers clamoring for the freezer aisle. The system would automatically identify sales as higher than the AI expected given all factors at play, triggering an alert to the digital sign, which in turn loads a graphic that tells shoppers that ice cream is selling particularly well today. Shoppers, recognizing the merit of their peers’ decision, follow suit. There is no need to spend time setting up or managing a certain promotion. The automated system instead succeeds just by reinforcing subconscious whims.

The important thing is that with a digital screen supported by AI, you don’t need to know why a trend exists. You just need to know it does exist.

Newsletters

One other unique content-adaptive feature of AI is the ability to deliver far more impactful, dynamic and personalized newsletters. First, AI allows customers to receive newsletters with content that meets their expectations and contains content they’d prefer to engage with. But the really interesting effect comes once customers start opening the content.

When people start clicking, the content hits the AI engine, which can analyze and update their responses to the content in real-time based on what they click on and spend time reading. Then, for future readers, the AI can instantly remove or reduce the prevalence of underperforming content, raise the profile of high-performing messages and improve both customer experience and ROI.

Automated, Real-Time Relevance

While those who ignore history are doomed to repeat its failures, only those who can make intelligent predictions about the future can adjust optimally to real-time environments on the fly. And that’s the promise of the GK Software AI-enabled platform. With our AI engine, real-time learning based on behavior looks like a chess game with a decision tree. The platform learns the moves ahead and uses predictive analytics to anticipate future product and consumer behavior.

To act based on historical data is a stable business approach. But to use our AI to predict outcomes and adjust to discrepancies in real time is the true power of AI in the store.

AI has become a well-discussed term in recent years, finally moving from sci-fi pipe dream to real-deal opportunity for businesses to improve efficiency and service. As everyday shoppers, we experience the effect of AI as recipients of personalized advertising and product recommendations. That’s not all it can do, though, as AI is becoming a powerful tool for in-store retailers to turn imprecise and inefficient backend processes into value-drivers.

But why do we need AI for this? It’s not like retailers have been starved for data analysis or don’t know how to run their businesses based on decades of experience and customer relationship building. And yes, technology has been improving nearly every aspect of retail for years. But even when retailers adapted advanced rules-based algorithms to ease the burden, their improvements were capped by the limited power of historical data to tell the full story – which it really never does.

In this two-part series, we will explore three ways that AI can impact store processes in ways no other technology quite can. Let’s take a deeper dive into the first benefit we’ll explore - replenishment.

Replenishment

Today’s retail workforce is heavily manual. Retailers rely on their staff to manually perform time-consuming tasks that allow them to make decisions based on the best available information they can gather, instead of the right information.

One great example of this is the process of analyzing buy cycles of certain products in order to manage replenishment – both for restocking shelves and the store as a whole.

At a foundational level, a retailer’s ERP system will track how many items are left in the store based on POS and supply data. But the ERP can’t distinguish between the shelf and the back room – it just knows how many items have come in and how many have been sold. This makes it challenging to know if stock levels are too low or high in one area, or if poor sales are due to true out of stocks, or just a lack of product on the shelf.

Figuring this all out usually requires hourly associate walks through the aisles, check stock levels and note which products need a boost. Then, they head to the stock room to resupply, relying on a generic, consistent standard of how many of an item need to be available to handle coming demand. This isn’t exactly an exact science…

With AI, retailers can automate and optimize sales and replenishment recommendations based not only on exactly what’s on the shelf and in reserve – as separate units of measurement – but also adjust these needs dynamically in combination with POS and supply data analysis. The AI engine predicts future product sales based on historical data and prevailing trends and provides automatic real-time adjustments in replenishment commands in the instance of some unexpected macro event such as a storm or holiday.

AI also helps retailers recognize micro-moments, like a staple product experiencing a sudden drop, which the system could immediately recognize as a stock level issue, alerting employees to check for an in-aisle problem.

Now that you know how AI can streamline the replenishment process and make efficient use of merchandising tasks, be sure to stay tuned for part two of this blog series as we explore how two marketing processes can also be improved with this powerful technology. To find out how GK Software’s AI-enabled platform can help your business, please feel free to reach out.

GK Software SE will rely on the cloud-based solution provided by Deutsche Fiskal GmbH, which is being jointly developed with the Bundesdruckerei Federal Printing Office, to meet German legal requirements to prevent tax fraud at till systems.

Deutsche Fiskal GmbH is developing an open cloud solution to meet German tax fraud prevention requirements at the point of sale. The company is working with Bundesdruckerei GmbH and GK Software SE as its cooperation partners and is therefore combining the market-leading expertise that is available in the fields of security and store systems.

GK Software will connect all its solutions for points of sale to the cloud platform provided by Deutsche Fiskal GmbH. The crucial factor here was that the cloud solution does not depend on operators having any special kind of hardware. As a result, it is possible to connect all modern till clients, like tablets or smartphones, to the system too. GK Software believes that using other possible fiscalisation processes like fiscal printers or USB sticks normally entails higher costs for fairly large retailers and always goes hand in hand with operating special types of hardware.

Deutsche Fiskal GmbH is ensuring that the transactions, which are relevant to the tax authorities, are signed in the cloud according to the law and are returned for archiving via the digital interface. Bundesdruckerei is making available the Technical Security Equipment (TSE) that is required.

Total turnover at GK Software rose from EUR 90.45 million to a new record figure of EUR 103 – 106 million, according to provisional figures.
This record turnover figure represents a very successful year for GK Software: turnover in the “GK/Retail” core segment, for example, increased by more than 20 percent to EUR 94 – 97 million. The year was also primarily dominated by a breakthrough in the American market, where it was possible to gain three new customers. Being able to attract six more customers worldwide was evidence of the leading role played by the Company's solutions around the globe.
Major investments in the portfolio of products amounting to EUR 14 million led to probable earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of EUR 4 – 7 million within the core segment (2017=8.8 Mio. Euro). These investments in future growth were therefore the main reason why the EBIT margin of 15 percent, which was the official goal (based on turnover), did not yet materialise during the financial year that just ended.
Overall, the GK Software Group achieved EBITDA of EUR 3 – 6 million, on the basis of the provisional figures.

Explanations of the Ad-hoc-Announcement:

• GK/Retail core segment grows by more than 20 percent
• Breakthrough achieved in the USA with three new customers
• Expansion of strategic position through investments in products

According to the assessment by the Management Board, the 2018 financial year was the most successful in the company’s history. This evaluation is based on the fact that it was not only possible to increase turnover in our core business by far more than 20 percent from a figure of EUR 74.78 million to EUR 94 – 97 million, but also achieve a breakthrough in the largest retail market in the world by gaining three US customers. The global competitiveness of our solutions was also demonstrated by the fact that we were able to attract six more customers from around the world.

The Company used this strength to continue expanding its strategic position by making significant investments in its portfolio of products and its sales reach. This is taking place against a backdrop where the current upheavals in the retail sector are triggering huge and sudden shifts in the market place – and GK Software is planning to benefit from them and responded too in order to make use of specific sales opportunities.

Overall, EUR 14 million was invested in the ongoing and new development of mobile applications and the deployment of artificial intelligence within the retail sector (Artificial Intelligence for Retail or “AIR”), for example, and this figure was entered under expenditure. Both of these areas were only recently strengthened through acquisitions. Another major emphasis in the measures adopted included expanding the functions available in “cloud4retail”. A further EUR 2 million was spent on improving market penetration and gaining access to new markets. The Company is expecting an enhancement of its sales base through the ongoing global go-to-market and therefore a reduction in its reliance on individual sales regions.

In the light of the developments that are described here, the Management Board is expecting the EBITDA in the “GK/Retail” core segment to amount to EUR 4 – 7 million, which is the equivalent of a margin of 4 – 7 percent; this therefore falls short of the goal that we set (2017=8.8 Mio. Euro). However, if we modify the EBITDA by the expenditure on products, which had not yet reached commercial viability during the current year, the Company would have achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of between 8 and 11 percent.

This and the market position that has been achieved, which is reflected in the well-filled sales pipeline and the very high degree of interest shown in GK Software solutions at the North American Retail Federation’s conference, which has just ended in New York, encourages the Management Board to stand by its medium-term forecast for the year 2020: this envisages an EBIT margin of about 15 percent for the core business.

The strong development of the “GK/Retail” segment was also able to compensate for a decline in turnover of about EUR 4 million in the “IT Services” segment. As part of our concentration on our core business, a decision has been made to halt those parts of this segment, which do not relate to developing and supporting software in line with the obligations arising from customer agreements. The phase-out period is expected to last between three and four years.

This decision does not make it necessary to revise the medium-term forecast, which was issued in the 2017 annual accounts for the year 2020. Overall, the Management Board is expecting an increase in profitability during 2019.

Now serving more than 34,000 retail and restaurant locations, GK Software USA successfully brings expanded product capabilities to market

GK Software, the provider of omni-channel retail solutions for 10 of the Top 50 retailers worldwide, today announced significant U.S. growth in 2018. Named the strongest current offering in the Q3 2018 Forrester Wave for point of service solutions, GK Software boasts a dominant market position in Europe and has quickly become a key player in the U.S. GK Software was also recognized by IHL Group as a leader in innovation, market strength and market share for POS Software and SaaS in the Total Retail, General Retail and Food, Drug and Convenience segments.

Throughout 2018, existing customers representing grocery, specialty retail, apparel, electronics/appliance, discount and restaurants continued to expand their investments in GK technologies, and the company also acquired 12 new direct U.S. customers, including:

• Hy-Vee, an employee-owned chain of more than 245 supermarkets located throughout the Midwestern United States, which selected GK OmniPOS, TransAction+ and Mobile Consumer Assistant to improve customer service across all channels;
• One of the largest thrift shop chains in the U.S., operating more than 300 stores nationwide, and one of the nation’s largest consumer electronics and appliance retailers;
• A nationwide restaurant group operating more than 200 full-service restaurants.

GK Software now serves a total of 41 U.S. customers – 30 retailers and 11 restaurant chains – representing more than 34,000 locations across the region, in addition to the tens of thousands of additional locations managed by partners.

Impressive Product Benefits

One of GK’s most powerful solutions, its Mobile Consumer Assistant (MCA) platform provides personalized offers, campaigns, mobile payment and scanning via consumers’ smartphones. The complete mobile solution seamlessly integrates into retailers’ mobile applications and store technology to manage loyalty, promotions, self-scanning and self-pay. In 2018, MCA boasted significant global success, including:

• 13,600 stores and 47,700 POS units now using MCA
• 1.9 million total registered users and 144,000 active users
• 168.5 million total retailer app launches
• 8.3 million total coupons redeemed
• 1.65 million total payment transactions and 10 million total loyalty transactions

GK also expanded its capabilities across multiple emerging technologies – including its cloud4retail service, the first fully managed service to provide enterprise-class omni-channel POS through the cloud, and the integration of AI capabilities after the Dec. 2017 majority stake acquisition of respected AI firm, prudsys AG.

Deployed in 34 countries, the prudsys platform enables advanced omni-channel personalization capabilities, provides more than a billion personalized recommendations each day (11,000 per second) and generates $24 million per day in revenue based on recommended items. It is also able to generate significant lift in other key areas of customer businesses, including:

• 3-5% lift in sales revenue and profit through personalized recommendations
• 20-25% increase in conversion rate through improved marketing automation
• 10% increase in sales revenue and 5% increase in profit through dynamic pricing

Personalized offers, dynamic pricing and price optimization also help deliver instances of significant value to individual customers, including examples in which:

• Total basket value increased 8%, with just 42.9% of all baskets receiving at least one coupon with a personalized discount
• Click rate improved 10%, conversion rate increased 18% and revenue grew by 26%
  
  

Financial Growth

The GK Software Retail core business has demonstrated strong growth throughout 2018, with Q3 revenue increasing by 22.7%. GK has invested strongly in this area in order to further increase the financial growth of the overall company, which saw revenue gains of 13.6%.

Additional information on GK Software’s Q3 2019 results and continued growth can be found here.

GK Software, the international market leader for store solutions, will yet again set trends for the future of retail at EuroCIS 2019 in Düsseldorf. Attendees will experience the possibilities of combining the world's most comprehensive retail platform, OmniPOS, with Artificial Intelligence, the unlimited use of mobile devices, and the latest technologies during live presentations at the GK booth C42 in Hall 10. There will be a special focus on the frictionless store, the promise that consumers can make their purchases without having to interact with the retailer’s IT systems or staff from the moment they enter the store through checkout - simply by using a smartphone.

OmniPOS, the award-winning platform for the handling of all store processes on the basis of state-of-the-art technologies, is at the heart of the GK Software solution suite. GK Software also makes OmniPOS completely available from the cloud as part of cloud4retail. The cloud-based platform is ready for the future and offers full functionality, adaptability, and opportunities to significantly reduce operating costs. Recently recognized by Forrester Research as the strongest current platform, its integrated processes have compelled roughly 50 major retailers worldwide, across all sales channels, to deploy it. Among these processes are support for all stationary and mobile POS variants, integrated solutions for scales, label & poster print, omnichannel pricing & promotions, clienteling and a comprehensive offer for mobile customer loyalty.

GK Software will also present the Frictionless Store solution, based on the Mobile Consumer Assistant (MCA), for the first time at EuroCIS. It enables the entire range of shopping processes on the customer's smartphone, including self-scanning, AI-based recommendations and mobile payment. The cloud-based solution offers retailers the fast implementation of a more modern customer approach in the store based on the mobile platform from GK Software, which has already been successfully used hundreds of thousands of times.

With AIR (Artificial Intelligence for Retail) GK Software has developed the first dedicated retail-oriented platform based on artificial intelligence for the optimization of retail processes. AIR enables retailers to realize many processes automatically - from dynamic pricing and personalization to fraud detection - based on machine learning.

The leading mobile merchandise management solution brings all merchandise management processes directly to the store using the latest technology - end-to-end, online and offline, on a wide variety of mobile devices and with direct connection to core systems.

GK Software will also present several new solutions based on the OmniPOS platform for the first time in Düsseldorf. This includes the hardware-independent OmniScale weighing software, which supports all types of scales - from operator scales to customer-operated scales to scales with integrated cash registers. Another first is OmniPOS Petrol. The modern forecourt solution ensures the seamless integration of the petrol station and convenience business into a unified Omnichannel-capable solution. With OmniPOS Hospitality, GK Software now empowers the integration of restaurants into an overall cross-channel strategy. The solution is designed to cover all restaurant types from fine dining to fast food, enabling modern customer loyalty integrations and omnichannel processes at the same time.

In addition to the enhancements to its OmniPOS solution, GK Software will present new and innovative solutions that address emerging opportunities such as blockchain-based payment technologies and virtual reality stores at EuroCIS.

December 19, 2018

GK Software announced today that IHL Group, a global research and advisory firm, positioned GK Software as a leader in innovation, market strength and market share in its latest report, "Retail POS/mPOS Software Market.” In the IHL Insight Market View Positioning Map, GK Software was recognized in the upper quadrant for POS Software and SaaS in the Total Retail, General Retail and Food, Drug and Convenience segments.

IHL determines company positions on each axis by identifying and evaluating not only market strength and market share, but also growth, direction and resilience, including factors like revenue trends, customer satisfaction, commitment to research and development, and unified commerce capabilities. For both General Retail and Food, Drug and Convenience segments, GK Software earned the highest placement on the growth, direction and resilience axis. IHL Group also ranked the company fourth in worldwide retail POS revenue with $114 million POS revenue in 2017.

“The POS software market is rapidly growing as retailers expand to account for unified commerce,” said Jerry Sheldon, zVice President, IHL Group. “Although many of the world’s best-known vendors are competing for POS market share in the U.S. and globally, GK Software differentiates itself with a robust solution suite designed for the future demands of high-profile retail accounts and an exclusive vendor agreement with SAP. Its market share, focus on innovation and continued revenue growth should position GK Software as a notable market force for years to come.”

GK Software’s point of sale solutions, including Omnichannel POS and Mobile POS, allow retailers to more effectively blend together brick-and-mortar sales with digital commerce. What’s more, GK Software offers a highly flexible deployment, whether offline, on-premises or in the cloud.

“As retail channels become less distinct and consumer demands continue to evolve, retailers need vendor partners that provide robust, scalable and flexible solutions that help them adapt,” said Michael Jaszczyk, CEO, GK Software USA. “At GK Software, we’re dedicated to creating solutions that go beyond the baseline of omnichannel commerce, and our ranking in IHL’s report validates our efforts.”

GK Software’s omnichannel solutions will be on display at NRF’s Big Show, on Jan. 13-15 in booth #3267.

September 14, 2018

GK Software provides SAP with exclusive omnichannel POS solution identified as a market "leader"

GK Software announced today that Forrester Research, a leading global research and advisory firm, rated SAP Omnichannel POS by GK as a "leader" in its latest report, "The Forrester Wave: Point of Service, Q3 2018". The report ranked SAP as the POS provider with the strongest current offering. The report also noted that SAP has the strongest overall presence in the market with a perfect 5.00 in this category, which includes installed base, implementation scale and geographic deployment.

GK Software, which offers its own suite of branded omnichannel solutions worldwide, is the exclusive omnichannel POS provider for SAP. The report found that the Omnichannel POS by GK delivers a compelling omnichannel retail capability and highlights client references stating that "the POS team is well structured and delivers functional well-tested software." GK Software's Omnichannel POS is an integrated piece of SAP's Omnichannel suite for retail, and it allows providers to more effectively blend together brick-and-mortar sales with digital commerce. Combined with SAP's Omnichannel Customer Experience tools, it provides a coherent and personalized experience for consumers and retailers alike.

Forrester emphasizes that leading POS vendors excel at exploiting "...new capabilities to provide both mobility and secure distribution of enterprise data and logic for resilient offline trading." SAP Omnichannel POS by GK contributes to this experience as an important component of the SAP Commerce Cloud. The entire solution enables retailers to optimize their IT landscape while offering consumers a consistent and uncomplicated shopping experience in every channel and at every touchpoint.

"With the increasingly complex network of shopping channels available to consumers, retailers are finding robust omnichannel solutions to be an essential part of their sustained growth potential," said Michael Jaszczyk, CEO, GK Software USA. " Forrester's recognition of GK Software solutions sold by SAP validates the strength of GK's product suite and value of its service offerings."

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• GK OmniPOS, TransAction+ and Mobile Customer Assistant enable the grocery retailer to improve customer service across all channels

Raleigh, NC - July 31, 2018 - GK Software, a global leader in omni-channel retail, today announced that Hy-Vee, an employee-owned retailer operating more than 245 stores in eight Midwestern states, will deploy GK Software's next-generation store systems, including OmniPOS for omni-channel POS, Mobile Customer Assistant (MCA) for mobile app self-scanning and the TransAction+ payment solution. By selecting GK Software, Hy-Vee will have the ability to use a single platform to support a variety of customer touchpoints, including traditional point of sale, self-checkout, mobile check-out solutions, payments, click and collect e-commerce and more.

Hy-Vee is recognized as a leader in technology innovation and excellent customer service. As a progressive and forward-thinking retailer, Hy-Vee demanded a POS system that would allow the company to be responsive to its customers and business, especially in an industry that rewards those that can move and implement changes quickly. GK Software is uniquely capable of delivering the level of functionality, flexibility and service Hy-Vee requires for its current and future projects.

"In today's ever-changing retail environment, we recognize the need to deliver a cohesive customer experience," said Luke Tingley, Senior Vice President of Information Technology, Hy-Vee. "By integrating software that will allow us to deliver innovations at a greater pace, we are better equipped to provide our customers with an outstanding experience."

Hy-Vee will take advantage of GK Software's next-generation store systems, which are designed to deliver the most innovative and flexible retail tools, including the following products:

• OmniPOS - highly flexible platform providing real time omni-channel retailing services across all store touchpoints for leading global retailers.
• TransAction+ - adaptable and configurable payment processing solution.
• Mobile Customer Assistant (MCA) - mobile app providing a variety of services on Hy-Vee customers' smart phones, including Self-scan.

GK's advanced capabilities and functionalities will provide the following:

• Fast and seamless integration with Hy-Vee's existing infrastructure;
• Solution extensibility that empowers Hy-Vee to innovate on top of the GK platform;
• Agile and flexible platform architecture that can easily adjust and grow with Hy-Vee's evolving business needs.

"We are excited to work with Hy-Vee as the company continues to push the boundaries of cutting-edge customer service and technology," said Michael Jaszczyk, CEO, GK Software USA. "With GK's solutions, Hy-Vee will be able to seamlessly access every functional element across all touchpoints in the store, allowing the retailer to innovate faster and better serve its customers, while staying at the forefront of a competitive and constantly changing retail landscape."

According to the quarterly report published today, GK Software SE was able to exceed the previous year's turnover of EUR 20.12 million by around 18 percent in the first quarter of 2018 with sales of EUR 23.67 million.

• Strong growth in the GK/Retail core business (+23.3 percent)
• EBITDA one third higher than in the previous year

This development was mainly achieved by a significant increase in licensing and maintenance revenues. At EUR 1.34 million, EBITDA was almost one third above the previous year's figure of EUR 1.0 million. 

Based on these results and the sales opportunities for the rest of the financial year, the Management Board continues to expect the company to be able to increase its turnover in comparison with the previous year in line with expectations; and it is standing by its forecast for the year 2018 and the medium term, as published in the last financial statement.