Grid Dynamics launches new Omnichannel Grocery Platform

Grid Dynamics, a provider of scalable e-commerce technology solutions, released its Omnichannel Grocery Platform – a new SAP hybris extension that helps grocers create an integrated, personalised user experience across all channels. Built on the SAP hyb ris platform, the Grid Dynamics solution helps grocers transition their business model from a purely physical model to an integrated omnichannel model across store, on mobile devices and online.

Online grocery shopping is expected to show tremendous growth over the next several years as consumers continue to become more comfortable with purchasing goods through e-commerce platforms. New entrants such as Amazon Fresh and Google Express and the emergence of omnichannel business models has changed customer expectations as well, forcing traditional grocery stores to enhance their own online presence. According to BI Intelligence, 3.3% of current US grocery spending is online, which is expected to grow to nearly 20% by 2018.

The Grid Dynamics Omnichannel Grocery Platform allows grocers to implement an omnichannel platform that provides consumers with an intuitive user experience across, giving them the flexibility to shop and consume grocery-related content anytime, anywhere on their preferred medium. At the same time, grocers gain a 360-degree real-time view of customer behaviour allowing them to create targeted marketing and personalised promotions to drive customer behaviour and maximise returns.

The omnichannel grocery platform will allow consumers to order online for in-store or home delivery; view nutritional and brand information; create and write reviews; add ingredients to their cart directly from recipes and cooking-related content; save, manage and share shopping lists; create custom orders (from the bakery, for example); and manage loyalty cards and points.

Data collected and analysed from these engagements gives grocers valuable insight into user behaviour they can use to cross- and up- sell; create custom promotions; implement variable pricing; enhance product search; and better manage inventory systems in real-time.

“Online grocery shopping is growing at a much faster rate than the overall category, and grocers can benefit from it only by providing customers a seamless shopping experience across physical and digital channels,” says Leonard Livschitz, CEO, Grid Dynamics. “Teaming up with SAP hybris allows us to provide them an industry leading software platform that that will help them retain and grow market share in a quickly changing category.”

Grid Dynamics Omnichannel Grocery Platform is comprises the following major components:

• SAP hybris commerce platform – acts as the business logic engine, providing a web interface for customers and merchandisers while exposing remote endpoints for mobile devices

• eGrocery Extensions – a set of extensions for the SAP hybris platform that implement advanced eCommerce functions and grocery-specific functionality

• SAP hybris Product Content Management – Stores catalog data (product attributes, prices etc.)

• Apache Solr – enables search and faceted navigation

• Sercato – Solr-based solution that provides more intuitive and precise search results

• Personalisation DB – stores can personalise content such as targeted offers and promotions

• Agile Software Factory – helps grocers deploy new software and updates with the agility of Amazon