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GK Software is the leading European provider of integrated store solutions - and is opening up offices in South Africa in support of the recent success they have had in securing 3 customers in the SA market.
“Being directly present in the market place is an important commitment to our customers and to our future success in the African market”, says Achim Sieren, Chief Operations Officer and member of the Group Management Board for GK Software AG in Germany.
“The Store Solutions supplied by GK Software enable genuine end-to-end processes integrated with SAP solutions,” said Sieren. “These solutions provided by GK Software and resold by SAP will be game changing for our retail customers. For example, the new SAP Point-of-Sale by GK application based on the SAP HANA® platform is the first to leverage this in-memory technology and it will provide our retail customers greater ability to service their customers. Following the success we have achieved with these solutions in Europe, North America and Asia, we’re looking forward to continuing this successful course in Africa.”
GK Software has appointed Emma Murray as the Managing Director for GK Software Africa. Murray has spearheaded GK’s entry into the market as the CEO of IP Inc., which is the exclusive sales partner for GK in the African market. She has extensive experience in growing and developing the local market for international vendors, having done so successfully for Software AG previously.
“GK Software is an innovative company with an impressive track record in delivering retail solutions to a broad range of retailers. The opportunity to bring such an international leader into the local market and develop and grow the local skills base to support our customers is immensely exciting” says Murray. “In support of our success in the Africa market, we understand that our solutions are a critical part of a retailer’s business and their daily operations, and we are serious about being a strategic partner to our customers”.
GK Africa has points of presence in both Johannesburg and Cape Town and will be actively growing the team in the coming months.
At Europe's largest trade fair for the retail-IT sector, taking place from 24-26 February 2015 in Düsseldorf, Germany, GK Software AG will be displaying its comprehensive product portfolio. At stand D49 in Hall 9 of EuroCIS, the German market leader is presenting new store solutions which will enable retailers to implement complete omni-channel concepts. It will also be demonstrating how it is blurring the distinction between traditional branch-level applications and solutions for other areas − such as e-commerce − in order to offer end-to-end enterprise applications which enable all sales channels to be connected together seamlessly.
With its new solutions, GK Software is responding to the current trend towards cross-point-of-sale (X-POS) systems within retail solutions, which represents a paradigm shift. Since the mid-90s, retailers have increasingly been replacing the simple, PC-based checkout solutions in their stores with online-compatible applications extended with countless additional functionalities; these are known as "enterprise POS" solutions. X-POS solutions are taking that development to the next level, removing the barriers that have up until now existed between physical stores, the webshop and other sales channels. In GK Software's new world of solutions, the in-store functionalities which are also required with the same level of quality in other channels are available as open services. These include, for example, fundamental business processes such as price calculation, shopping basket and stock-, product- or customer-related data. As a result, identical processes are performed transparently and without redundancies by a single system in an omni-channel environment.
The solutions by GK Software have been especially designed and/or further developed for use in omni-channel retail environments. EuroCIS marks the launch of a new version of a POS solution specifically for clienteling. Clienteling represents the new standard in the relationship between retailer and customer whereby all the available information relating to customers themselves, to their activities in the various channels, to the stock levels in store or in the webshop, to current promotions, etc., is provided in real time, e.g. via a mobile device. The clienteling solution utilizes the innovative GK/Retail app-enablement concept which allows external applications to be connected through seamlessly integrated apps without the standard software having to be changed. The apps even automatically react to events such as item registrations or customer logins. Hence the webshop or the CRM system, for example, immediately also becomes part of the clienteling POS. A ready-made connection is in place thanks to the Omni-Channel Store Connector by GK, which is available in the hybris Extend & SAP CEC Marketplace. One of GK Software's partners, prudsys, provides an app for displaying real-time product recommendations at the POS − which is already common practice in online shopping − in the form of its Realtime Decisioning Engine. This prudsys solution is one of the world's most successful personalization tools for webshops. With the further addition of enterprise-wide master data and customer data as well as extra information (e.g. from social media channels), the clienteling version of GK/Retail POS represents an innovative sales instrument for retailers.
The backend systems by SAP and the online business solutions by hybris combined with the GK/Retail Business Suite applications form a Unified Omni-Commerce Platform which offers a complete solution. This is founded on the SAP HANA®-based Customer Activity Repository (SAP CAR®), which has enabled SAP to create a unified data pool enriched with cross-channel services for all master data and transaction data in the omni-channel environment. For that purpose, GK Software makes key data elements from the GK/Retail portfolio of solutions available as services in CAR for subsequent use by any of the other components. As a result, a consistent price calculation can be made or returns can be handled accurately and securely across all channels, for instance, thus avoiding redundancies and eliminating sources of errors.
Within the framework of continual further developments to the GK/Retail Business Suite, the underlying architecture concept has been developed and new solutions have been made ready for market. These activities have helped to enable all centralized solutions and services to also be used on SAP HANA or in the cloud. One new version of the store solution is based on SAP Fiori and offers a wide variety of applications in combination with a web platform (UI5). Hence GK/Retail covers the entire spectrum, from classic fat clients to very thin clients with online connections as well as hybrid variations on all types and classes of devices. These flexible deployment options plus the use of modern enterprise servers enable a lean branch-level IT set-up with a small footprint and optimal total cost of ownership. In the area of mobility the company's EuroCIS highlights will include, in addition to POS and consumer-related solutions, the new version of Mobile Merchandise Management for the first time, which is now also available for Android in addition to iOS.
The GK FutureLab is continually focused on new technologies and devices, and explores how they could benefit retailers. One such technology is 'wearable' devices of all kinds, such as 'smart' watches, glasses and clothing. At EuroCIS, to illustrate the potential of such advancements, GK Software is demonstrating a retail app for Google Glass. The app enables consumers to fill their basket based on a shopping list, to scan their items in store, to call up additional information and to subsequently pay for their purchases. Wearables will undoubtedly play a growing role in retail in the future, and this concept shows one way in which they could be used.
A North American specialist retailer with 250 stores in the USA and Canada decided to purchase SAP Point-of-Sale by GK. This project will involve equipping about 500 systems with the POS software developed by GK Software and sold by SAP. It is the first project where a customer has migrated from the old SAP POS solution to SAP Point-of-Sale by GK. The project will be handled by a local partner with support from GK Software US Inc. This is the first new project being completed in the USA and it will therefore provide an important reference for this market.
GK Software was therefore able to gain five new customers (including this project) during 2014; three of them are based in South Africa and two in North America.
Bentley Leathers is the first joint new customer of SAP and GK SOFTWARE AG in North America.
Started in 1987, “Bentley Leathers Inc.” is a chain of retail stores operating throughout Canada. The company from Quebec currently has 400+ stores which retail luggage, purses, backpacks, briefcases, Sport Duffles and related accessories under various banners.
GK SOFTWARE will be presenting the only complete omni-channel software package for retailers at the EuroSHOP fair for the first time in Europe; all the systems components will set new standards in their areas. The market-leading components GK Store Solution, SAP Backend, SAP Hybris Webshop and the Customer Mobility platform from “valuephone” have all been integrated for the first time and will be presented as a seamless package; this is a world first and the elements are already available for use. The central component is the GK Retail Bus, which enables operators, for example, to manage an open transaction through all the channels, change it at various points and complete it online, on a mobile phone or from a fixed position. As a result, GK SOFTWARE is able to map typical and future omni-channel issues end-to-end and in a transparent manner. The market-leading solution in Europe for mobile payments and mobile loyalty, which has been developed by “valuephone”, forms a fully integrated part of GK SOFTWARE’s omni-channel package. This means that the comprehensive GK/Retail store package now includes all the processes related to mobile customers too – and in absolute top quality. The new customer apps provide a completely new shopping experience for consumers.
A cloud makes it all possible: GK SOFTWARE offers the fastest till in the world based on the HANA technology. But the till is not the only element to benefit from the use of cloud technology: the other components in the store suite can all be accessed in real time too. And there is another important factor: the cloud reduces the complexity and costs of store infrastructure many times over. To summarise, the technology is known as “GK-in-the-Cloud”. This new distinct form of the GK/Retail Business Suite allows operators to make use of all the GK software solutions – ranging from POS to Backoffice and even solutions for corporate-wide systems management or sales and marketing (promotions, loyalty etc.) – and this takes place either at the retailer’s data centre (a private cloud) or in a public cloud in future. GK SOFTWARE can now guarantee the necessary performance for real-time processes on every channel because all the latest GK solutions fully operate with the SAP HANA inMemory technology. The slim GK Smart Clients developed by GK SOFTWARE ensure reliability in stores. As long as the GK Smart Clients are online, all the processes take place directly in the cloud on central servers and the terminal device in the store, e.g. a tablet, is only used to input data and for visualisation purposes. It is possible to continue using the Smart Clients in offline mode without any network connection too.
Another highlight at the retail fair on GK SOFTWARE’s stand will be the new distinct form of the till software designed to integrate apps. New apps can be downloaded directly into the POS system without any outlay for development and configuration work; they can then be quickly put into operational use without any migration or rollouts. This will enable retailers to use apps to easily integrate new issues like dynamic pricing, awarding or recommendations in the till environment in future without any major effort.
Loblaw Companies Limited is Canada’s largest retailer and was founded in 1919. The corporation’s portfolio of products not only includes food and pharmaceutical items, but also banking and telecommunications services. The group generated sales exceeding the equivalent of EUR 22 billion in more than 2,300 corporate or franchise stores in 2013; it employs more than 192,000 people.
The solutions will be rolled out at the retailer's operations in more than 10 countries in southern Africa on well over 7,000 stationary and mobile devices in total. The project comprises the SAP Offline Mobile Store omnichannel-compatible point-of-sale solution, Mobile POS (a mobile ERP management solution), the automatic SAP Label & Poster Print and the SAP Store Device Control integration platform. As a result, essential processes within the retailer's very large stores will in future be running on SAP Store Solutions by GK.
GK Software will work locally with its own team to adapt the solutions to the customer's specific requirements. Virtually simultaneously, another customer in South Africa, this time from the public sector, has also chosen SAP Point-of-Sale by GK. That smaller project will be handled by a GK Software partner in South Africa who has already successfully completed the relevant stages of training in the GK Academy and is hence fully certified.
A leading retailer with several sales lines will equip over 1,000 stores with SAP Point-of-Sale by GK in more than ten countries in southern Africa. This company is the first to complete the migration path from the old SAP POS solution (formerly known as Triversity) to the latest range of software. A local GK Software team together with a partner from the global partner network, which has already undergone intensive training, will complete the project, which will only entail relatively minor adjustments to the standard product.
As part of the expanded services support agreement, HP will provide after-sales solution services for the SAP Store Solutions by GK as well as implementation, roll-out and application and infrastructure services. The SAP Store solutions by GK comprise leading solutions for store operations with seamless integration into SAP. The solutions include POS and Mobile POS, Open Scale, Store Device Control, Label & Poster Print and Mobile Store Processes. For its part, GK extends its third-level client support.
The agreement is designed to make a qualified implementation and service partner available to clients for fast and flexible project implementations of SAP Solutions by GK across the world. Additionally, retailers will be able to leverage HP’s comprehensive service capabilities to help them operate their daily business consistently and effectively all over the world.
Rainer Gläß, CEO of GK SOFTWARE AG, comments, "The partnership with HP gives us the chance to increase the sales opportunities for our joint range of solutions with SAP throughout the world since it enables us to offer the retail sector an attractive total package."
Jules Beck, vice president, Global Enterprise Applications and Mobility Services, HP Enterprise Services added, "To keep customers, retailers need to innovate and improve the buying experience. With HP’s deep SAP applications services and retail expertise, we can help retailers maximize the SAP and GK Software retail solution to transform their businesses with analytics, mobility and cloud-based solutions.”
Schöneck, 8. February 2013 - In all of the Dohle Trading Group's grocery stores, SAP and GK SOFTWARE AG will be implementing the mobile ERP solution SAP Offline Mobile Store by GK, using SAP Store Device Control by GK to connect peripheral devices such as scales and the label-printing solution.
Influential in the Dohle Trading Group's decision was the fact that this represented a fully integrated extension of its current SAP system to create a modern mobile ERP solution which would stand the test of time. Another key reason for the choice was that the new systems seamlessly interface with the existing SAP portfolio and its technical base components such as SAP Netweaver. Thanks to the online capability of SAP Offline Mobile Store by GK, Dohle can rely on much quicker data delivery to the mobile processes in the future, as well as consistently better-quality data. Meanwhile, flexible synchronization options for Dohle's various store formats will enable the food retailer to manage its processes even more efficiently. Furthermore, due to the integration of GK components in the SAP portal, all relevant activities can be performed either on mobile devices or at fixed workstations, depending on each employee's level of authorization. The new system will also improve the efficiency of the innovative automatic replenishment at branch level. By using these latest solutions, the Dohle Trading Group expects to optimize its processes and reduce its maintenance costs.
The Dohle Trading Group, headquartered in the German city of Siegburg, is a company steeped in tradition, the result of a merger in 1960 between grocery wholesale firms Gerhard Schröder-Bergheim (founded in 1901) and Jean Dohle-Quirrenbach (founded in 1927). Nowadays, the Group has more than 6,000 employees and operates convenience stores and supermarkets under the HIT banner, with stores of between 1,500 and 4,500 m² in approximately 100 towns and cities across the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hessen and Bavaria. HIT stands for enjoyment and health at affordable prices. Within its product range of approximately 30,000 SKUs, quality is a key focus. The fresh food departments have regularly received praise for their meats and sausages, fresh produce, cheese and dairy products, fresh fish specialties and the professional and knowledgeable approach of sales staff. A large wine department, delicatessen and convenience products and the new, natural initiative called 'Natürlich HIT' complement the retailer's offering. With its commitment to offering ever-more high-quality, natural food products, the company shoulders its corporate responsibility for people, animals and plants. The Dohle Trading Group generated sales of EUR1.5 billion in 2011.
The Retail Innovators