The French retail chain Système U and Wincor Nixdorf are realizing an omni-channel services concept together that will include new customer loyalty and marketing programs. At the same time, the Système U stores will install modern POS terminals from Wincor Nixdorf that support the omni-channel approach and improve the customer experience.
Paderborn, Germany, 2015-5-7 — /EPR Retail News/ — Under the large-scale agreement concluded by Système U and Wincor Nixdorf, the French cooperative’s supermarkets will be equipped with an innovative combination of hardware and software solutions that are operated using services from Wincor Nixdorf. This will meet Système U’s requirements of a foundation for the rigorous development of omni-channel sales and an improved customer experience. “In 2014, we decided to replace our POS systems, since the software applications had become more complex and varied over time but were being run on checkout hardware dating from 2005. We want to offer our customers seamless service and a modern checkout environment that fulfills all of today’s requirements,” says Jean-Michel David, a Système U associate and President of its subsidiary INFO.U. “Furthermore, the new POS technology should support us in realizing targeted customer loyalty measures as part of our omni-channel concept.”
From customer relations to customer experience
Système U will be the first French customer to use Wincor Nixdorf’s new customer loyalty software, TPCustomer360 – a new module for customer relationship management (CRM). The software analyzes shopping behavior in detail in order to interact with customers in real time across all sales channels, from checkout terminals to mobile terminals and online shops and all the way to social networks. Measures and campaigns associated with customer loyalty and support can then be tailored uniformly across all channels to the customer’s individual needs. “Owing to the variety of functions it offers, TPCustomer360 exceeds simple CRM systems. It uses a logic that transforms it into a comprehensive CEM (customer experience management) system,” says Hervé Grelet, General Manager Retail at Wincor Nixdorf in France. “The module enables an extremely fine segmentation of the customer base and has been proven to be highly effective for setting up marketing or promotional operations targeted at the different points of contact in an omni-channel system.” Carte U, Système U’s loyalty card is used by around seven million consumers and is tied to over one and a half million sales receipts per day. In conjunction with Carte U, the retailer began to implement a targeted program of measures for individualizing customer address, with marketing activities oriented precisely to individual customers on the basis of their profiles. For example, different coupons are distributed at checkout to specific customer groups.
A coherent response to different shopping scenarios
The foundation for these and other applications is Wincor Nixdorf’s omni-channel platform, TP.net 6.0. It will be installed at Système U and enables the connection of customer master data to the POS systems as well as the standardization of all the retailer’s business processes, from price management to new checkout concepts to payment solutions, etc. TP.net allows the distributor, for example, to manage its mobile solutions in-store and realize uniform strategies across the various sales channels (web, smart phone, stores, etc.). “This permits a coherent response to the multiple shopping scenarios of Système U’s customers, which may combine the point of sale, pick-up stations for goods, e-commerce or m-commerce,” says Hervé Grelet. “With this new, standardized and agile IT configuration, Système U can adapt its business processes very quickly.”
Checkouts as terminals for targeted communication
Finally, Système U is replacing a large proportion of the checkout hardware in its markets with modern POS systems from Wincor Nixdorf: around 14,500 new-generation BEETLE terminals will be installed. Their large touchscreens will be more comfortable for checkout staff to use and offer more customer information. Moreover, they all feature displays that face the customer to promote genuine interaction with customers in line with Système U’s omnichannel approach. For example, tailored information relating to customer loyalty or promotions can be displayed to the customer in real time. Supplementing the staffed checkouts at Système U are several hundred self-service checkouts from Wincor Nixdorf that also deliver a new customer experience.
The implementation of the IT investments at Système U is being managed by the company’s IT subsidiary U GIE Iris. “U GIE has bundled the IT resources of the stores and central services at Système U for three years now,” says Philippe Le Cam, deputy chair of U GIE Iris. “The goal of the partnership with Wincor Nixdorf is to ensure that the stores are able to use the new POS systems and their innovative applications quickly and thus generate added value for the customer and the company.” Wincor Nixdorf began to deploy the new hardware at Système U this year.
About Système U
The Système U cooperative (65,000 employees) operates 1,559 stores in France, comprising 844 Hyper U and Super U stores and 715 stores in the convenience store category (UExpress and Utile). The cooperative had sales in 2014 of EUR 18.51 billion before tax with a market share of 10.3%.
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