Overview

GK Software is a leading provider of retail applications for real-time omni-channel business.

One of these is the Self-Scanning option. By using the Self Scanning option, customers can use retailer owned self-scanning devices (Industry Device, ID) or their own mobile device (Bring-Your-Own-Device, BYOD) to scan item barcodes in the shop, create and maintain a virtual basket, and perform a fast checkout at the end of the trip. Additional scanning at a Point of Sale (POS) is no longer necessary.

It is possible to perform the payment and final checkout in multiple ways: At a POS, Pay Tower or Paystation, or also using a mobile phone in combination with a frictionless checkout. To do so, a payment service provider can be connected in order to pay for the transaction with tender types that the user registered and defined in advance.

The Self-Scanning solution provided by GK combines a set of powerful capabilities:

  • Cloud backend
  • Offline item registration

Self-Scanning client applications will download all of the necessary information during the start of trip to the local storage. During the shopping trip, the client does not need to have an internet connection. Customers are able to scan item barcodes and will get all of the item information directly from the offline master data. The virtual basket is stored locally and synchronized in the background with a centrally stored basket as soon and as often as a network connection is available. When the customer wants to complete the shopping trip, the client will carry out a so-called "end of trip". During this process, the shopping basket is finally validated, prices and promotions are calculated and fraud risk is assessed. The customer is informed about the result of this registration step and can continue with the payment process, either via a checkout terminal (POS) or via the in-app payment option. Once the transaction is finally paid, an exit gate can guide the customer to leave the store.

The self-scanning itself can be performed in two ways:

  • Using an industrial device, which is provided to the customer in the shop
  • Using the customer's own device (BYOD - Bring Your Own Device)