(pressebox) Schoeneck, 24.03.2009, Gebr. Heinemann KG, one of the leading operators of airport shops, has started to roll out GK/Retail at its retail channel. The first stage involves installing the market-leading retail solution from GK SOFTWARE AG in approx. 130 of the company’s shops at airports in Germany and Denmark. GK/Retail has been adapted to the special requirements of this project, which involves selling items at airports and the dutyfree business. GK SOFTWARE AG is acting as the prime contractor in this project and is responsible for the complete roll-out, service and support.
The traditional Hanseatic trading company Gebr. Heinemann commissioned GK SOFTWARE AG to equip the Travel Value & Duty Free and Concept & Licence shops with GK/Retail in the spring of 2008. The first steps were taken to gradually switch the stores at German airports to GK/Retail in the fall of 2008. The roll-out in Germany should be complete by the end of this year, if all goes according to plan. Alongside this, preparations are being made to switch the stores in Denmark and this process is due to start in the next few months. There are also plans to equip the Gebr. Heinemann shops in other countries with the software at a later date.
As the retail sector at airports requires special features, GK/Retail has been expanded to include specific airport functions. The flexible architecture of the standard software meant that the project could be realized in a very short time – the blueprint and development phase leading up to the first active pilot run only took about six months. During this period, GK SOFTWARE implemented the special requirements for Gebr. Heinemann and new hardware and the legal requirement to detect air ticket data were integrated in the store software. At the same time, connections were created with the different ERP systems used (SAP and Navision) – depending on the type of store – via the standard XML interface of the StoreWeaver middleware. Gebr. Heinemann KG is planning to make use of further opportunities to establish customer loyalty and approach customers with specific aims at POS units in future – all based on the new store software. This is the first project where GK SOFTWARE AG is operating as the prime contractor and, among other things, is providing the full 24/7 service for the stores on behalf of Gebr. Heinemann. Hans Lechner, IT Manager at Gebr. Heinemann, says: "Our decision to purchase the GK SOFTWARE AG solution was not just taken because the company was able to provide us with very modern and flexible store software, but also because we are able to obtain all the services related to the software from one source."
Rainer Gläß, CEO at GK SOFTWARE AG, is also confident that the companies can work together successfully in future: "We are delighted to have acquired another internationally successful retail company in the shape of Gebr. Heinemann to use our software and services. This also underlines the success of our strategy of offering lasting services in addition to our market-leading software. We are convinced that nobody can offer better service for its software than the software producer itself."
About Gebr. Heinemann, Limited Partnership:
Gebr. Heinemann was founded in 1879 as a provider for shipping suppliers in the Speicherstadt district of the city. The company is now a modern Hanseatic trading firm, which offers professional solutions to the international travel market. The family-owned enterprise successfully operates 173 Travel Value & Duty Free and 55 Concept & Licence Shops at 47 international airports. Sales at Gebr. Heinemann’s global business operations totaled ? 1.7 billion in 2007.Über GK SOFTWARE AG
GK SOFTWARE AG is one of the leading developers and providers of standard software for the retail sector in Europe and it provides a comprehensive range of products for stores and enterprise headquarters. The company has established itself on the market as a leading technology and innovation provider by using the open software solutions provided by its GK/Retail suite, which can be operated on any hardware platform and is completely programmed using Java. The software allows store-based retail companies to have access to the best possible operating organization facilities and as a result they are able to exploit considerable potential for making cost savings and increasing customer loyalty in order to enhance their competitiveness. The company currently employs 199 members of staff at its headquarters in Schöneck and at four other business centers in Berlin, St. Ingbert, Plzen (CZ) and Basel/Riehen (CH). GK SOFTWARE AG numbers well-known German retailers among its customers, including Galeria Kaufhof, Parfümerie Douglas, Coop (Switzerland), ESCADA, EDEKA Hannover-Minden, Lidl, Netto Markendiscount and Tchibo. The company’s software is currently being used in 24 countries at more than 55,000 POS units in approx. 13.000 stores in Germany and abroad. The company has grown rapidly during the past few years and its sales in the 2007 business year totaled ? 10.75 million. GK SOFTWARE AG generated EBIT of ? 2.33 million (EBIT margin of 20 % related to total operating performance). The two company founders and board members, Rainer Gläß (CEO) and Stephan Kronmüller (CTO), in conjunction with the other board members, Ronald Scholz (COO) und André Hergert (CFO), have turned GK SOFTWARE AG into a profitable company with strong growth since its launch in 1990.
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