xplace GmbH

With the slogan "The Smart Evolution of Retail" xplace presents its comprehensive solutions for POS digitalisation at the EuroShop 2020. Key element is the new digital retail data platform biscuit, which the systems integrator is presenting live in Hall 6, stand G41. With a typical cross-channel customer journey, the Goettingen-based company will demonstrate how the data-driven playout of promotional content can be automated and significantly increase sales.

"The POS has the same potential as e-commerce. At our stand we will show how brick-and-mortar retailers can use biscuit to exploit the full potential of their digital infrastructure and thus considerably increase their sales," explains Marco Wassermann, CEO and co-founder of xplace. "Today, it is crucial to deliver the right content to the right place at the right time. However, on which hardware it is played out is rather secondary. As an integrator, we therefore deliberately focus on the versatility of touchpoints as well as hardware and manufacturer independence". Besides classic displays and interactive kiosk systems, ESL can also be elements of an integrated signage overall concept. In this way, ESL have not only advantages for process optimisation, but also contribute substantially to sales. "Large-scale ESL projects are our second focus at the joint stand with our strategic partner, Bison Schweiz AG," says Wassermann. "Here we have shared expertise, for example from the world's largest ESL rollout for Media Saturn".

xplace demonstrates the functionality and benefits of the holistic data integration approach with a customer journey case: First, visitors select a product on a touch screen. This step simulates an online search preceding a store visit. In the "store" itself, the products can then be browsed and touched. At a virtual checkout, the chosen goods are finally booked out. Along the entire customer journey, visitor behaviour and interaction data are recorded and displayed: The dashboard of the biscuit module "analytics" shows data like, the length of stay or the conversion rate. Highlight: The biscuit module "campaign" ensures that all screens, small signage components and ESL of the showcase display relevant information and automated promotion content. This includes "social proof" or scarcity messages ("popular in Düsseldorf", "only a few available"), which improve conversion and cause sales uplifts. "We are convinced that the benefits of any existing ESL infrastructure can be significantly enhanced through data integration and digitalisation concepts. True to our EuroShop slogan, our solutions take the POS to the next level of development on the way to the Smart Store," says CEO Wassermann.

Experts from xplace and partner companies will address other topics relating to POS digitalisation in their presentations in the Smart Retail Lounge at the xplace/Bison stand G41 in hall 6. Programme and further information at: https://www.xplace-group.com/en/company/events/xplace-at-the-euroshop-2020

xplace’ CEO Marco Wassermann will also give a presentation on the Omnichannel stage in hall 6 (Wednesday, February 19, 11.20 a.m.). Topic: "What does e-commerce have that brick-and-mortar retail lacks?”

System integrator and specialist for POS digitalisation xplace has officially added the data platform biscuit to its portfolio. The data analysis and automation platform integrates various data sources and offers powerful evaluation and analysis features as well as AI-based campaigning. Thus, biscuit helps brick-and-mortar retailers to track and understand customer behaviour in the store and to improve conversion. The Goettingen-based company thus strengthens its main value proposition of transferring the benefits of e-commerce to the POS and provides customers with a flexible tool for the realisation of the smart store.

"With biscuit, we are now extending our system and data integration expertise”, says xplace CEO Marco Wassermann. “The platform fits perfectly into our signage and digital retail portfolio: Insights, data analytics and automation are its logical enhancements. Our customers benefit from biscuit's ability to fully exploit the benefits of POS digitalisation beyond pure process optimisation. For retailers, it is increasingly important to overcome the barriers between online and offline trade. biscuit helps to bring both worlds together and make the customer journey at the POS as transparent as in e-commerce. That's why the name biscuit is deliberately derived from the internet cookie.”

The modular concept of biscuit allows the greatest possible flexibility and maximum degree of individualisation for the customer. At the heart of the system is the biscuit core module, which stores raw data such as interaction and usage statistics from signage elements, visitor counters, sensors, etc. for further processing. External data sources such as ERP, web shop or Google Trends can also be easily included. biscuit is an open data platform, which means that all data and systems can be interconnected.

The biscuit analytics module translates data into meaningful information. The success of assortment composition, POS design or promotion campaigns becomes measurable as well as the conversion rate. Optimisation potentials reveal themselves clearly. Based on this data as well as AI-controlled, the biscuit campaign module selects related promotion content that is automatically played out on any digital touchpoints in the store. The module biscuit monitoring monitors centrally the system status of the entire digital signage infrastructure, for example, all ESL of a company in all branches, regardless of manufacturer and across all locations.

At the EuroShop from 16th to 20th February in Düsseldorf, Germany, xplace will present biscuit live in action.

xplace has equipped the new Brussels Miele Experience Center with a comprehensive digital signage solution. The domestic appliance manufacturer’s own-retail-store in high street location opens officially on 21 January 2020. There, xplace once again implements an exclusive store concept for Miele: Interactive digital touchpoints deliberately replace space-intensive product presentations and enable a high-quality brand experience.

In the Brussels Experience Center, xplace puts the three decisive goals of Miele’s digitalisation concept into practice: to present the entire product range in a lively manner on limited floor space, to emphasise the premium brand image and to transform the customer journey at the POS into a 360° impressive experience. On 200 sqm, the Goettingen-based system integrators and experts for POS digitalisation installed, among other things, product advice solutions, 'virtual shelves' as well as large-format displays for animated image content. The latter are complemented by an automated ambient lighting and a powerful sound system. Highlights of the store are, like in Amsterdam, the virtual washing machine, which offers an exciting view of its interior, as well as the so-called hobs- and built-in systems. At these virtual cooking surfaces, ovens and coffee machines, for example, customers can virtually put together all cooking surface product variants in original size. The systems, individually developed in close cooperation with Miele, are setting the industry benchmark. The product content for all signage components comes directly from Miele's international product database. At the push of a button, content can be adapted to the product range of the respective country and can also be displayed in several languages – in Belgium, for example, in Flemish or French.

The direct benefit for the brand experience in the store is enhanced by valuable interaction data which the digital touchpoints continuously generate. xplace's CEO Marco Wassermann explains: "With the integrated digital signage concept, Miele has laid the foundation for the Smart Store. This is because digital touchpoints not only play out content, but at the same time can gather information on customer behaviour which can be used for conversion optimisation". Especially through comprehensive integration into existing IT resources such as the ERP system or the web shop, or through the connection of sensors or other data sources, additional insights into the customer journey and omnichannel potential are created. Based on these analyses, AI or rule-based relevant content can be played out on the digital signage elements. "All this is possible with our new biscuit POS data platform," says Wassermann. "We look forward to demonstrating biscuit's services at the upcoming EuroShop in February".

At their EuroShop trade fair appearance xplace will on the one hand put an emphasis on ESL solutions from a single source – the joint value proposition with co-exhibitor and strategic partner Bison Schweiz AG. On the other hand, the Goettingen-based specialists for POS digitalisation will focus on the new data platform for conversion optimisation "biscuit".

Under the motto "The Smart Evolution of Retail", both companies will present practical use cases of their POS digitalisation solutions. This includes the realisation of complete ESL projects from concept and consulting to interface development, IT integration, installation, service and support. xplace will also offer an extensive workshop and specialist lecture programme on digital retail topics at the stand and will be participating with a speech by xplace CEO Marco Wassermann at the Omnichannel-Stage in Hall 6. He explains: "Our mission is to take the POS to the next development level. By comprehensively integrating internal and external data sources, sensors and available IT and signage resources, we are taking a decisive step with our customers towards becoming a smart store. The goals include: AI-based, data-driven output of relevant content for efficient conversion optimization, a uniform omnichannel brand experience and a consistent customer journey. We are already putting all this into practice today."

xplace relies on the specially developed POS data platform biscuit, in which interaction data from digital touchpoints, sensor information, ERP and webshop data or other online trends converge. "With our portfolio we provide solutions for all applications at the POS. Since we operate independently of hardware and manufacturers, the possibilities with biscuit are only limited by the imagination of our customers”, Wassermann says. “We are looking forward to EuroShop to show how we can enhance the customer journey at the POS through digital solutions and optimize conversion". The individual platform-software modules provide an all-round view of all kinds of digital retail activities - from the technical status of the ESL infrastructure to store- and product-specific evaluation of the conversion rate. This results in meaningful analyses for optimising product assortments or promotions. These analyses can also be used for automated campaigns, which completes the circle toward digital signage solutions and interactive kiosk systems.

xplace GmbH has equipped more than 120 WMF Group stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with electronic shelf labels (ESLs). By December 2019, the Goettingen-based POS digitilisation specialist had installed around 100,000 displays.

After a successful planning and test phase in ten stores, xplace needed only three months to complete the rollout. xplace implemented the installation of the electronic shelf labels during ongoing business operations, including the integration into the IT systems of the shops as well as the connection to the ERP system and the web shop. In addition, xplace will be providing service and support for the entire ESL infrastructure. Lars Luck, Vice President Direct-to-Consumer-Business/Own Retail at WMF, comments: "Nowadays, integrated ESL solutions are essential components for integrated digitilisation concepts at the POS. The centrally managed output of prices offers many advantages for us. xplace provided us with excellent support accomplishing the project". 

"Thanks to our extensive experience with ESL rollouts on a large scale, we know that the biggest challenge is to develop interfaces to various IT resources such as the ERP system. We tailor these links in close dialogue with our customers according to their specific requirements. We are pleased that we were able to also convince WMF of our expertise here," says Marco Wassermann, CEO and Co-Founder of xplace, and explains: "The advantages of centralized price labelling with ESL are resource efficiency, error-proof harmonisation of online and offline pricing for a consistent customer journey as well as flexibility and reaction time equal to e-commerce. But that's just the first stept: ESL systems already have great potential today to act as digital signage touchpoints to promote sales - or even to generate valuable interaction data for conversion optimization."

Manufacturer- and hardware-independent ESL solutions
xplace has been cooperating successfully with Bison Schweiz AG for some time now on ESL projects. Only recently, the two companies announced a strategic partnership. The respective offers combine to form a comprehensive portfolio that makes it possible to implement ESL projects completely from a single source. The "ESL Manager" software from Bison establishes interfaces to various data sources, manages product and label matching and sends the product data to the ESLs in the desired format. The realisation of these interfaces for the integration of different formats and systems is the core competence of xplace in addition to all-round product service. "For us, it does not matter whether customers opt for electronic shelf labels from SoluM, Hanshow or other manufacturers. As consultant as well as integrator, we are completely independent of manufacturers and hardware. In this way, we guarantee that our customers get their optimal solution an can use their ESL-infrastructure to its full potential," emphasizes Wassermann.

The two IT companies Bison Schweiz AG and xplace GmbH are entering into a strategic partnership. Together, they will be offering a complete manufacturer- and hardware-independent service portfolio for projects in the field of electronic shelf labelling.

The strategic collaboration between the Swiss business software specialists Bison Schweiz AG and the German company xplace GmbH, the expert in point-of-sale digitalisation, is bringing about the creation of a unique, complete range of services for ESL projects in the brick-and-mortar retail sector. «Our solutions and expertise complement one another optimally, so that now we can jointly realise ESL projects – creating a one-stop source providing all services,» explains Florian Bernauer, the CEO of Bison Schweiz AG. Marco Wassermann, the CEO of xplace GmbH, adds: «As we advise and operate completely independently of producers and hardware, traders can be assured that we’ll provide them with the technology that suits their needs best.»

A complete synergetic portfolio encompassing the point of sale, ERP and inventory management
This isn’t the first time the two companies have worked together – in fact, they’ve gained extensive expertise from projects which they’ve already successfully realised together. For example, they jointly carried out the world’s biggest ESL project for the Media Saturn Retail Group: twelve million electronic shelf labels were installed in approximately 1,000 stores. The two CEOs are certain that here the synergy contributed significantly to the success of the project – particularly as their core services perfectly complemented one another. They plan to make use of this aspect in future, as the collaboration creates a complete synergetic portfolio that goes beyond the ESL services and encompasses everything from advising customers on hardware and software, ERP data matching and installation to operations monitoring, service and support. At the same time, the companies continue to maintain autonomous presences in their markets.

Dynamically adjusting product prices with ESL
The importance of electronic price labels is steadily growing: due to the increasing competition between offline and online retail, product prices are becoming more and more dynamic, too. In some cases, they even have to be adjusted daily – an investment of time and effort which is quite simply disproportionate if paper labels are used for a huge number of products. Here, so-called «electronic shelf labels» (ESLs) offer a solution.

In February 2020, both companies are going to be running a joint stand at the EuroShop trade fair in Düsseldorf in Hall 6, on Stand G41, where (among other things) they’ll be presenting their ESL solutions.