Article

Wincor CEO: The convergence of online and offline is a reality now

Executives say the impact of consumer-owned mobile devices will require higher service standards in-store.

January 23, 2014 by Natalie Gagliordi — Editor of KioskMarketplace.com, Networld Media Group

It's a wrap for Wincor World 2014 in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany, where solutions giant Wincor Nixdorf held its annual showcase and trade fair for the retail and banking industries.

More than 7,000 attendees are estimated to have packed into the A2 Forum to see 500 exhibits, live technology demonstrations, product launches, and a session lineup that tackled topics ranging from omnichannel customer centricity to branch process automation.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Wincor Nixdorf President and CEO Eckhard Heidloff expanded on the theme of customer focus and how the company plans to meet the demands of its global client base.  

"Customers want to use all kinds of channels — this is information that a retailer or a bank needs to know how to deal with. The range of what a bank and retailer must offer will be much wider, and the convergence of online and offline is a reality now," Heidloff said. "The difference now is that there isn't an IT department that determines this, but the customers — they say how they want to shop and how they want to pay. We have listened intently and developed lots of ideas."

Heidloff stressed that Wincor will continue its growth path in emerging markets — forecasting the global middle class to double to 4.2 billion people, primarily in ermging markets. He added that the company will continue to optimize its global manufacturing supply-chain network, with a goal to double its software and professional services revenue from $300 million today to $600 million within the next five years.

Market trends and product launches

Wincor highlighted key market trends during the press conference, singling out areas within its retail segment where the company will focus its growth strategy:

• The impact of consumer-owned mobile devices, which will require higher service standards in-store;
• The need for channel integration and management;
• The control and expedited usage of automated technology; and
• The consumer desire for personal service over privacy.

Wincor identified the challenge of differentiation in the marketplace and the need to acquire a solution flexible enough to cover a multitude of use-cases, such as a sales-assistant information terminal, or a line-busting and checkout device that integrates with the retailer’s POS system.

Wincor's solution involves the newly-released TP.net application software suite that supports traditional and self-checkout POS concepts in addition to a range of tablet devices running iOS, Android or Windows.

According to Wincor, retailer benefits to the TP application suite include:

• Reduced complexity and cost;
• Flexibility to introduce omnichannel strategies to conform to customer service concepts;
• Standardization based on global retail best practice experience; and
• Simplified international rollout and operations.

Accompanying the software platform is the the Albert device — a product thatresembles a smaller form-factor tablet with a built-in card reader and receipt printer. Wincor's VP and CTO Reinhard Rabenstein eagerly presented the Albert device during the press conference, adding that Wincor will put the device to market in the coming months.

The tablet will be available in 8.3- and 10-inch formats. It is a custom development by Aava Mobile and will support both magnetic stripe and chip-and-PIN transactions to facilitate compliance with EMV and PCI requirements, Wincor said.

"With the new BEETLE mobile POS solution, Wincor Nixdorf offers retailers a future-proven investment in mobile applications," said Reinhard Meier, head of production-line POS at Wincor. "Together with TP.net, the solution provides retail companies with an opportunity to offer customers a truly consistent and attractive shopping experience across all channels — whether it is online purchases in-store, the search for products in stock, detailed product information or payment directly on the sales floor."

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Photo provided by Flickr user Scott Ellis.