Times have changed
For the owner of a village shop, with a limited number of customers, it was easy to remember someone’s preference. Today’s retailers face bigger challenges. They serve a much larger clientele, which is nationwide and potentially worldwide. Customers like to shop at any time of day. In addition, the expectations and the purchasing behavior differ depending on the generation.
In a few years, digital natives will make up most of the population demanding modern interaction options with retailers. Retailers who want to excite customers need to provide a holistic customer experience. The experience can be on all devices, above all, the mobile, and on all channels, in the web shop, in social media, and at the point-of-sale in the stores. This is what we call true omnichannel. The companies who personally reach their customers via all communication channels and can offer them additional services are the ones ahead of the competition.
Why we have built this solution
SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK is a consumer engagement solution that enables retailers to be in direct communication with their digital consumers. This communication can be conducted in real-time, is personalized and interactive, and can be done anytime and anywhere.
The solution works standalone but comes also with an out-of-the-box integration with the SAP Omnichannel Point-of-Sale by GK. Talking about integration – SAP is already working on its strategic vision to build an end-to-end integration with the SAP Customer Experience portfolio, as well as SAP Promotion Management, and SAP Customer Activity Repository.
From a product-offering standpoint, the SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK comes with three components, as shown in the slide below:
The retailers can create loyalty or couponing services in the back-end platform which are then presented to their consumers in the mobile consumer app. The app can be branded by the retailer to match their corporate image. The consumer downloads the retailer’s app onto their mobile device (bring your own device) and the app provides the loyalty services directly to the consumers, at any time.
Let’s look at the customer journey
The retailer can create a campaign – it could be based on coupons or promotions – and push offers to a consumer. Another special feature of SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK is the geo-location: for example, consumers passing close by their favorite store can be offered a coupon or voucher via the loyalty app. As well as just redeeming an offer or coupon, the SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK solution allows the consumer to create their own shopping list and place orders from that shopping list. Once customers are inside the store, SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK gives them the ability to do self-scanning, shop and make payments (leveraging coupons and vouchers), plus self-checkout with loyalty points, finally with a digital receipt that goes along with it.
From a functionality standpoint, SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK offers capabilities like consumer loyalty, couponing services, digital communication, and then ultimately the whole process inside the store, the smart mobile checkout*: self-scanning, self-service checkout, mobile payment, and digital receipts are all part of the solution as well. Full details are given in the slide below.
Cashierless checkout is coming!
In July 2020 another feature called “cashierless checkout” which provides that capability of the person-less store will be released.
Many people prefer little interaction with sales associates, and do not want to wait in line for purchasing products. Also, in the current COVID-19 pandemic, the application’s value becomes very clear, as social distance is required to prevent the spread of the virus.
The feature allows consumers to enter the store, using their own mobile device. They can then scan the products they are taking from the shelves and pay for the goods they want to purchase via our SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK app – without any interaction with the cashier. They can still have as much interaction with sales associates as they wish to have. A prominent example for this is Amazon Go – which has been running a similar concept for some time. However, it is by far not the only company revolutionizing in-store checkout.
SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK not only provides smart mobile shopping capabilities. It also provides a loyalty solution offering that allows consumers to earn points within their transactions based and redeem those points on checkout for any transaction. Customers can then choose to pay using just points or a combination of cash, card, loyalty vouchers, and points.
All in all, SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK helps retailers to get closer to their consumers, foster greater loyalty, and provide a true omnichannel shopping experience.
The solution can be deployed on any premise or in the cloud on Microsoft Azure.
Learn more about SAP Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK here.
*POS solution mandatory e.g. SAP Omnichannel Point-of-Sale by GK
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