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THE STORE OF THE FUTURE IS HERE: MOBILE SELF-SCANNING FOR A COMPLETELY UNATTENDED SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
Retailers with omnichannel and innovation strategies are focusing their attention to the mobile as the primary touchpoint. Through the mobile, not only the relationship with customers has higher fidelization potential, but Retailers can deliver services and enable new and customised shopping experience, seamless from online to instore and viceversa.
Customers are attached to their personal device, but as the latest researches indicated, even if buying online is a growing trend, they do not renounce to the search and selection of products in the store, especially for what concerns the food sector.
How to combine these two needs and make available the digital experience instore for the customer ?
Mobile Self Scanning service is the answer.
Mobile Self-Scanning is the digital shopping process consisting in scanning the barcodes of the products using the device’s camera, and adding them into the digital shopping cart. Even if it could seems just a switch from physical Self-scanning to the mobile, there are several additional advantages for customers and retailer that deserve to be underlined.To the benefits related to the introduction of traditional Self-Scanning stations:
- less queue at the cash desks,
- increase the value of the average receipt,
- reduce the time spent inside the shop,
…there are others arising directly from the personal mobile device:
- these technologies on mobile version remove the customer’s contact with shared hardware, particular sensitive need in the post-pandemic.
- By using their mobile customers can get more information about the products, connect shopping lists, obtain discounts and personalized coupons based on their preferences, and even receive alerts regarding ingredients and allergens.
- Through the use of Mobile Self-Scanning retailers can collect additional data from their customers. In fact, it is possible to integrate the tool with various Mobile features and services, enriching general marketing actions (e.g. awareness, engagement, acquisition and conversion).
- The introduction of Mobile self-scanning in small stores, where there is not enough space for self check-in and check-out hardware infrastructure, can be the optimal solution for retailers.
The ways wherewith Retailers decide to redesign the purchasing process in the Self version are in fact diversified according to the spaces, hardware and software infrastructures available.
The Mobile Self-Scanning can also be provided through a dedicated App or integrated into a brand App that also includes other services, such as the store finder, flyers, loyalty card, rewards catalog, coupons and shopping list.Mobile Self-Scanning services can be presented:
- as Hybrid, integrated with other technologies inside the store. The customer creates and manages his cart with his device but completes the payment operations at the traditional cash desk or self check-out desk;
- or as totally Digital, where payment is also performed inside the mobile device using a dedicated digital wallet, with high security level.
The digital form is the most complete and reliable choice for the store of the future. Similarly to the Amazon Go model, it gives a complete opening for the customer loyalty The customer, once inside the store, actives his service with a digital check-in, selects, scans and adds the products; at the end he pays with a few simple taps always using his device, leaving the shop without any interaction with the staff and totally bypassing the code. The customer receives an exit code and his receipt in digital format directly on his mobile. The experience is frictionless and unlike AmazonGo it does not require the introduction of cameras and RFID sensors, therefore much more convenient in terms of investment for the Retailer.
Looking at the system infrastructure, it is really agile and easy to implement: just a virtual POS is required in the store for both modalities. The server allows the receipt’s registration and keeps track of the shopping activity. Also the promotional data both on single product and on the entire shopping amount is returned and made visibile into the app interface. The same server hosts the typical control algorithm of Self-Scanning for random rereadings. No major investments are required in terms of network infrastructures, it is possible to use the services already present in the stores.
Recently we have been involved in the implementation of more than one project in large-scale grocery retail chains with some of our main customers both in the hybrid and digital form, which includes digital wallet. The analysis of the first results gives us indications for improving the various steps in terms of user experience, management and control of the receipt.
The digital transformation of the store with Mobile Self-Scanning follows totally the paradigms of omnichannel and Mobile first. Now is the right time to make this service available for your customers and bring your stores in the next generation. The future is now!
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Features and benefits of a point of sales designed for omnichannel
How to accurately select the digital sales system to optimize the ecosystem of services that the retailer can offer to its customers?
The digital point of sales, an evolution of the analogue cash register, consists of a series of hardware peripherals (POS, PC or tablet, scanner, printer, cash drawer and pinpad) and software that processes purchase transactions as well as manages the peripherals connected to it.
The transition from analogue to digital gives retailers a range of opportunities: simplifying operations, ensuring greater control and allowing them to implement an omnichannel customer relationship strategy.
What are the characteristics that a digital point of sales should have in order to be a useful tool for implementing business strategies and achieving the technological evolution of Retail?- A Cloud Architecture to ensure scalability both in terms of the number of locations and in terms of new feature implementations. The cloud also provides a range of benefits related to security and centralized control.
- Open to integration with new digital services related to loyalty, promotional systems, smart payments and ready for future evolutions.+
- Natively multilingual, the language can be selected from the profile of each user.
- Ensure business continuity of sales, even in offline mode.
- Constant release of upgrades with easy distribution and installation, to stay always up with new regulations and technological advances.
- Versatility of the system in terms of hardware, which guarantees adaptability to the size of the stores (from single point of sales managed with tablet or smartphone stations, to chain stores that require more complex hardware solutions); versatility of the software in terms of the store concept (food, non-food and mixed).
There are several aspects to take into consideration when choosing a point of sales and all of them are of great importance for the good performance of sales processes and business growth.
Konvergence has been developing its KiaraCloud suite for years keeping in mind that these features must be included in the solution developed to create and maintain over time a scalable, flexible and integrated platform that offers retailers a tool that enables omnichannel strategies.
"We thought about a point of sales that would give the sales clerk a strong freedom of action and the retail manager a complete control, from any web access, for micro and macro data supervision."
Said Francesco Mignogna, Product Manager at KiaraCloud, and added:
"In recent years we have integrated KiaraCloud to several loyalty and CRM systems, such as Salesforce and Koncentro, and to many digital and smart payment systems. The almost 2000 Italian installations of the last year have confirmed the development strategy of the solution. The flexibility that we have given to our software allows us to offer a solution to the various needs of the market and users. We are constantly evolving and always ready for change."
Choosing a digital point of sales influences business growth because it has an impact on marketing strategies, on the quality of services provided and on the work of sales clerk.
Contact us to learn more. -
Technological and communicative consistency: the mobile app for retail
In the process that retailers put in place to gain the trust of their customers, the mobile app can certainly be considered the primary supporting channel.
It is perhaps unnecessary to remember how much the use of mobile has become an integral part of the daily life of all of us. The ease of use of mobile compared to desktop applications has succeeded in bringing users of all age groups to the tool, independently of their level of technical knowledge.
A research by Osservatorio.net published last March shows that in 2021 smartphones will become the first channel for online purchases, with 51% penetration in the Food&Grocery sector.
The recommendation when starting a Mobile App project is to consider the entire physical and digital communication context within which the brand presents itself and not to develop an app separately from the rest of the ICT systems.In fact, this channel must respect the criterion of consistency and be in total coherence with all the other touch points that the brand displays, both in store and online.
Consistency is to be achieved from a technological point of view: customer services are digitalized and included within the App that, integrates them into the entire ecosystem as a new front-end, shares the customer's story with all the other tools.
Technological consistency is strongly connected to the structural choices that the retailer makes for the management of its database. A unified cloud-based platform allows managing, in a stable way, a single view of the customer and in a flexible way the different contact points, in order to map all the possible interaction and purchase journey.Consistency is also achieved with a work of graphic and verbal alignment. Colors, icons, ideograms, words and messages that are used in the classic digital or paper flyer, on the website, on displays and totems in stores, must be take up and reinterpreted in a specific key for the mobile tool, within a user experience that is unique for that tool.
Once the technological and communicative consistency is achieved for everything related to the database and digital services shared with other channels, it is possible to provide a personalized experience to customers with services useful for their purchases shopping lists, product information, prize catalog, coupons and promotions, dematerialized card with account statement and digital receipt.
Then expand the portfolio with additional features, making the most of those potentialities that, due to the specific characteristics of the mobile medium, make the mobile app a unique and indispensable tool.
- Geolocation, to guide customers to the store but also, inside the point of sale, to the product.
- Proximity Marketing, to communicate to your customers when they are near specific purchase areas or perform a specific action.
- Scanning of barcodes, QR codes and tags for augmented reality, with the smartphone camera.
- Gamification related to reaching scalable goals and objectives to drive engagement and purchases.
To complete the purchase process, the mobile app is certainly the ideal channel to integrate the digital payment tools that the retailer has enabled on its circuits. Automating the checkout phase is probably the most ambitious process for most brands. Once the customer has established trust and familiarity with the mobile app, a tool that they use and from which they receive benefits, they will look for nothing more than to be able to set up their payment tools there as well. A real digital wallet where not only credit cards but also gift cards and other forms of electronic wallets can be stored.
Konvergence has developed KWallet, the Mobile App for Retail, modular, customized and integrated within the existing ICT ecosystem.
Contact us for all the details!
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Compliance with best practices to minimize risk to information security.
Recently Konvergence achieved an important goal with ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification.
This international standard gives guidelines for the creation of an Information Security Management System (ISMS).
The aim is to implement and organize information security policies by defining a system for the management, monitoring, control of business processes to ensure high levels of confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of information. The field of application is in the core business of Konvergence: design and development of software and related IT services in the retail sector.
Achieving certification has become a strategic goal for Konvergence to increase the protection and security of managed information and improve corporate governance.
The certification process, which started in 2019, has involved several professionals with multidisciplinary skills, proactively collaborated in the implementation of the ISMS. The process approach adopted has enabled Konvergence's ISMS to be established, implemented, monitored, reviewed, managed and improved.
Bureau Veritas, an independent certification organization, has sent auditors to our headquarters to verify the compliance of the procedures implemented.
Thanks to this certification, Konvergence has developed a conscious focus on information security risks, allowing a clear assignment of responsibilities for information security.
Konvergence thus continues to consolidate one of its most important assets: security, a decisive advantage for retail operators who entrust their systems to a technology provider.
Guerino di Giacomo, Head of Development and Projects at Konvergence says: "Undertaking the ISO 27001 certification process has brought several advantages at an organizational level: it has consolidated the global management of risks related to information and systems security, allowed a clear definition and implementation of suitable objectives for security interventions, allowing the constant monitoring of risk areas. In addition, the adoption of best practices delineated by the certification confirms Konvergence's commitment to fulfill its obligations to all stakeholders that daily enter into contracts with our company in order to ensure the necessary levels of security to protect systems, assets and data".
Konvergence will maintain its commitment to the future by continuously improving processes and practices to protect and manage data.
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Konvergence is now a Toshiba Commerce Solutions Partner
Toshiba Commerce is a global leader in the retail technologies market and has created a partnership program where companies with diversified capabilities can be in contact, discuss and cooperate with the aim of more widely satisfy retailer's needs.
This partnership program is called Together Commerce Alliance and makes community between Toshiba, associated ISV (Independent Software Vendors) and associated IHV (Independent Hardware Vendors). The program Together Commerce Alliance includes a set of business and marketing activities, training, products and solutions certifications all focused on the retail market. The organization provides growing and awards with a range of scalable levels based on the company's performance.Konvergence became Toshiba Commerce Alliance few years ago and recently has reached first the Gold Partner level and then the Solution Partner level as an ISV.
Are the software solutions that have been selected by TGCS as cutting edges and innovatives and they are giong to be part of the proposal recommended for the entire Together Commerce Alliance even oveseas.
The core solutions that TGCS is promoting are strenghts for retailers with customer engagement and loyalty strategies:- The Enriched Shopping, includes Digital Signage, Mobile andOmnichannel.
- The Actionable Insights, for data-driven marketing data-driven enabled by loyalty and promotions systems for a much more personalized customer experience.
- The Frictionless Checkout, for payment process optimization, fast and smart checkout.
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We are going to talk about Smart Retail at Lumi expo 2019
System integration, IoT, technological innovation for the construction of Smart environments at the service of the citizen and the consumer are the main themes of the LUMI Expo 2019 event which will take place on 21st and 22nd November at Bologna Fiere.
We will be there and we will participate in the Talk Show "Technological Convergence, AV, IoT and Smart Data in people's everyday life experience", sharing our point of view together with other industry experts.
It will be a moment of aggregation and comparison to which we invite everyone to participate.
“LUMI expresses the supply chain of the system integration market. Represents the ecosystem that sees human at the center, from the closed space in which he works and lives (SMART BUILDING), to the built space, in which the person moves and interacts with the community (SMART CITY), up to the built landscape, where the individual becomes collective (SMART LAND). "
Retail is an integral part of this ecosystem and must be able to take advantage from the technological opportunities offering to its customers services and digital content in omnichannel mode.
The digital signage in the store is a valuable point of contact to give concrete meaning to the expectations that the customer has created online. It is necessary to reflect on how to best integrate digital content in the store based on business objectives and to make the shopping experience engaging and memorable.
You can find additional info and the free registration form HERE -
French pharmacy sales with digital signage powered by Scala
The Scala-based digital signage networks push content to customers both inside and outside the retail outlet, and are boosting unique product sales by up to 80% for those pharmacies.
FUTURAMEDIA, a French company specialized in the rollout of dynamic signage solutions in the health and beauty retail space, has rolled out over 10,000 PoS screens in 2,500 pharmacies across France, supporting both queue management and upselling within the pharmacies. In addition, over 1,000 pharmacies have either rolled out or added the shop window screens to their network to support their branding, visibility and drive foot traffic into the outlet.
From day one, FUTURAMEDIA set up a multiple award-winning creative studio dedicated to the generation of content for these digital communication networks. A database containing information on over 15,000 products is at the disposal of the pharmacies, allowing their teams to organise their own tailored promotions via a Scala Content Manager web interface. The content manager also allows them to personalise the screens with pricing information and other information such as the weather forecast which is often sponsored by the pharmaceutical laboratories.
A recent study performed by FUTURAMEDIA and a pharmaceutical laboratory showed that a combination of both PoS and street-facing signage has the strongest impact, driving sales for a particular product up by 77%, with a rise in sales of 64% noticed by pharmacies using PoS screens only and nearly 50% for those using street-facing screens alone.
At Pharmacie Edgard Quinet in Paris XIV, also equipped with both solutions, the street-facing network is particularly effective: “The impact of the screen we have placed in our shop window is undeniable, its locaton is perfect looking out onto a very busy street and carrying very targeted content.”
Would you like to know more about Scala platform?
Contact us to schedule a live demo! -
EuroCIS, the leading Trade Fair for Retail Technology: Konvergence is showcasing KWallet in Düsseldorf
Konvergence is showcasing KWallet, the consumer-friendly mobile app designed for the retail market, at EuroCIS in Düsseldorf from 19th to 21st February.
KWallet offers a modular set of features that can be activated according to the customer's marketing and communication specific needs. Adopted by some of the largest players in the Italian retail market, KWallet is one of the solutions integrated into its TcXElevate platform by Toshiba, Konvergence's historical partner in Italy and Europe.
Visit us at the Toshiba TGCS stand, Halle 9/B42, and ask for a demo of our KWallet app!For more info, click here
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ISE 2019 - The community of ds is consolideted
TODAY CLOSED THE WORK AT ISE 2019 - some innovative technology showed during the fair: display with a very high resolution, augmented reality and sensor that increase the interaction with the audience, but also cooperation and desire to make culture among all the players involved in DS segment. Last January, in London it was born a new organization, the DSO.
Yesterday, at ISE of Amsterdam, there was presented the Digital Signage Organization (DSO), an association born with the aim to support the European Digital Signage industry.
On the board of this association Dirk Huelsermann, managing partner of Stratacaache and Harry Horn GM EMEA and VP marketing global of Scala, with which Konvergence has been collaborating for years for the digital signage projects.
Waiting to discover new board members and the plans and strategies of the DSO, the partnership with AVIXA, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association was announced at the end of January.
Simon Jackson, President of DSO commented “By partnering with AVIXA, which is the leading global body for AV, we are able to accelerate our plans in supporting the European digital signage community, as well as offer AVIXA and DSO members detailed insights into a range of topics from products to integration over a range of different channels and market segments.”
Dave Labuskes, CTA, CAE, RCDD, Chief Executive Officer of AVIXA, commented “AVIXA congratulates the Digital Signage Organisation on its formation and looks forward to partnering on ways of serving both groups’ members and building an even stronger hub of collaboration and community for the global audiovisual industry. According to AVIXA’s Industry Outlook and Trend Analysis report, the worldwide market for digital signage solutions is among the fastest-growing sectors of pro AV, driven in large part by trends in retail segments. We see great opportunity in working with DSO to help spur market growth.”
Digital Signage is a tool that needs to be well fed with content and considered as an independent Media. Having institutions that, even in a formal way, define the culture and support the operators, it is an important resource for those who work in the sector for years and for the Retail market, that now shows great interest to the audiovisual technology. -
RETAIL'S BIG SHOW - NRF 2019 we have to be there!
RETAIL'S BIG SHOW - NRF 2019 is going to start! As usual it will be held in New York at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from January 13th to 15th. We'll be there to explore the Innovation Lab and the other zones, to partecipate to the workshops and assist to the speeches. We are going to visit our Partner Toshiba's booth (# 2437).
If you are a Retailer, you can register for free following this linkToshiba will also hold a conference on the subject "Beyond millennials: How to attract and retain today’s consumer" if you are in the area in the early afternoon of Monday 14 January, we advise you not to miss it.
The retail world is changing radically, we keep up with new technologies.
During this event, we will try to share as much as possible our testimony on our site and on our social channels, follow us and let us have your feedback!