With around 50,000 items and five stationary stores, of which the location in Mühlheim-Kärlich alone covers more than 4,000 square meters, INTERSPORT KRUMHOLZ is one of the largest retailers in the German INTERSPORT network. To digitalize and simplify its store processes, the sporting goods retailer decided to introduce the REMIRA INSTORE app in mid-2019. This was accompanied by the goal of increasing the consulting capacity on the sales floor, reducing waiting times for customers and making processes faster, more efficient and more cost-effective. As a result, customers benefit from a significantly optimized shopping experience and employees can carry out all services - from stock queries to the checkout process - directly on the sales floor.
Before using the REMIRA INSTORE app, employees at INTERSPORT KRUMHOLZ were heavily reliant on the back office: For example, if a customer wanted to know whether an item was also in stock in other colors or sizes, this information could only be called up on the stationary computer. As a result, there were often too few advisory staff available on the floor, waiting times were annoying and long queues often formed at the checkouts during busy periods.
Relevant functions and data are available directly on the surface
Thanks to the INSTORE app from Dortmund-based software provider REMIRA, all this is now a thing of the past. As an advanced omnichannel solution, the application ensures maximum flexibility and makes all functions available to employees on the sales floor.
An important innovation here is the mobile checkout option: this allows checkout processes, including the sale and redemption of vouchers, to be completed directly after the consultation via smartphone or tablet. This not only creates a seamless experience for customers, but the app also helps to relieve the checkout area. However, mobile payment is by no means the only benefit that the INSTORE app brings to sports retailers. Advice has also become much more convenient and faster: This is because sales assistants can now check directly whether an item is available in the desired color or size, when the next delivery will arrive and whether another store may still have the product in stock. "We received very positive feedback shortly after the launch," says Managing Director Oliver Krumholz happily.
"One customer wrote to us saying that he had never experienced such good service as at INTERSPORT before."
And INTERSPORT KRUMHOLZ also benefits from valuable process improvements behind the scenes. These include, for example, the quick and easy reprinting of missing labels, mobile price queries for special offers and the simplified recording of stock levels using a mobile device. Thanks to the INSTORE app, all tasks can be carried out anywhere in the store. This also reduces the time and effort required for inventory maintenance and all information on availability and prices is always up to date. "At the beginning, some people were critical," recalls Anja Weingart, Digital Service Project Manager at INTERSPORT KRUMHOLZ. "They wanted an app that they could rely on one hundred percent and doubted that there was such a thing." But the REMIRA INSTORE app quickly convinced everyone otherwise.
"After the initial experience, the skepticism quickly disappeared. Everyday sales are no longer possible for us without the INSTORE app."
INTERSPORT Germany and REMIRA have had a strategic partnership for some time. Among other things, the Dortmund-based software provider is continuously developing INTERSPORT's INTERSYS software for checkout and merchandise management. With the gradual introduction of the INSTORE app, the next stage of digitalization has now been reached - at exactly the right time for pilot customer INTERSPORT KRUMHOLZ: after the successful go-live of several omnichannel services, mobile payment followed last March. At that time, the opening of the new store in Mülheim-Kärlich was imminent and the INSTORE app made it possible to reduce the number of stationary checkouts on site, which also lowered investment costs.
A must-have for the store
The verdict on the INSTORE App at INTERSPORT KRUMHOLZ is consistently positive: As hoped, the company has made immense progress in terms of efficiency and speed, and customer satisfaction has also increased noticeably - this is reflected in the feedback from store visitors, especially on busy days. Everyone involved is therefore certain that the omnichannel solution is a decisive tool for securing the future and a real competitive advantage in the retail sector. Jürgen Kleeschulte, responsible for merchandise management systems at INTERSPORT Germany, summarizes: "The INSTORE app is an important tool for bringing functionalities that we previously only had in the office to the sales floor." Oliver Krumholz, Managing Director of INTERSPORT KRUMHOLZ, is also enthusiastic:
"It's impossible to imagine our colleagues' day-to-day work without the app."
Based on this, the use of further functionalities is already being planned. For example, INTERSPORT KRUMHOLZ would also like to use the REMIRA solution for stocktaking in the future.
