After COVID-19, offline stores also entered a new phase. With the expansion of untact and non face-to-face business, the digital transformation(DT) of offline stores is rapidly accelerating. IT services that help the efficient operation of offline stores, such as store marketing solutions, accumulating points, professional collaboration tools for store management, and sales management services for small business stores, are attracting attention all together.
◇ From accumulating points to customer management
Dodo point, which has 25 million cumulative users and 20,000 affiliated stores nationwide, provides benefits to both customers and store owners by accumulating points. Store owners manage customers with the customer management list, and customers can easily check and use the accumulated points which increases the repeated visit rates. For the store owners who use Dodo point can enhance communication with existing customers through the automated text message service ‘Dodo Message’, and can expect marketing effects by sending text messages only to specific targets as well.
◇ Collaboration tool that improves the efficiency of field work
Shopl is a ‘collaboration tool for frontline teams’ that efficiently improves the work between the headquarters and stores. CEO Jun Lee, who has 11 years of experience in distribution management at Samsung Electronics, realized the need for retail software specialized in distribution sites thus introducing Shopl. Shopl, launched in 2018, was first introduced in Europe and South America including Germany, Mexico, and Colombia. It is currently being used by large domestic and foreign companies and global brands such as Samsung Electronics, Chanel, Hyundai Livart, Samsonite, and E-Land, etc.
As Shopl aims for an advanced store management service, it includes all the features necessary for store management. It supports close communication with specialized features, such as ‘Attendance Management’ based on facial verification, ‘LEGO Report’ that assembles necessary items like blocks and use it as a report, and ‘Field Report’ that uploads issues and shares store status in a feed format. Another advantage of Shopl is that features can be customized in a sense that users can turn them on/off depending on the company policy or need.
◇ Easy tool for small business sales management
A sales management platform ‘Cashnote’ is growing as a business management solution for small business owners. Cashnote, which was first introduced in 2017, has established itself as an essential service for small business owners by providing notification of card sales pending, daily financial reports through KakaoTalk messenger. Recently, they have introduced a new service that allows people to check in-store credit scores and view the history of financial products at a glance along with ‘Compensation service for shutting down business’ that subsidizes partial costs for small business owners in the event of closing down the business. They have surpassed 700,000 nationwide customers and 200 trillion won in managed sales, Cashnote is expecting 1 million customers within this year.
◇ Store management solution for solo founder
Gongbiz’ is a CRM(Customer Relationship Management) program that connects customers and stores. Customers visiting the store can easily make a reservation through the ‘Gongbiz’ app, and store owners can manage and check the reservation status in real time through the app. Linked with Naver reservations, it manages all reservations through the application, and helps systematic marketing and customer management with charts and automatic text messaging functions. Gongbiz can be used simultaneously on the PC and app with strong synchronization and it provides a mobile-optimized design, so it can be easily used for nail and beauty salons where they are usually busy with customer service.
◇SaaS market growth expected to help digital transformation
Samjong KPMG selected ‘Digital Transformation Based O4O’ as one of the survival strategies of distribution companies in its January report ‘The Beginning of a Great Transformation in Distribution, Retail Apocalypse’. It emphasized the need for strategies and responses that combine the strengths of offline and online in retail companies and stores.
Jun Lee, CEO of Shopl & Company, said “As DT in offline stores accelerates, B2B SaaS(SW service) that reflects the business environment and characteristics of stores will be more diversified.” He continued, “Shopl will support ‘Data based operation’ as it is a collaboration tool created for offline store management which is used by retail brands for managing numerous stores and small business owners.”
