German firm GK Software is helping drive retail innovations using hybrid cloud technology from IBM and Red Hat.

The companies aim to help retailers innovate and adapt quickly to the digital era by offering enhanced and connected omnichannel experiences.

This relationship should provide retailers with an enhanced pathway to retail innovation using IBM’s secured cloud technology and industry services alongside enterprise cloud options for retail.

As part of the collaboration, GK Software’s Cloud4Retail, currently the technology most rolled out to major retailers worldwide in new projects, is now accessible via IBM Cloud, accelerating hybrid cloud adoption within the industry.

This global relationship also supports a joint go-to market strategy that enables IBM’s Global Services (GBS) to build integrations and offerings for retailers.

Cloud4Retail is a flexible, open commerce platform providing services for the operation of integrated unified commerce environments from in-store and online touchpoints through to mobile devices. The platform is enriched by services such as AI-based dynamic pricing, personalisation, fraud detection and mobile applications.

Now optimised on IBM Cloud, the expansion and customisation options of the various Cloud4Retail services can be used on a wide range of devices.

GK Software will also extend the deployment flexibility of Cloud4Retail by adopting Red Hat OpenShift, an enterprise Kubernetes platform, allowing users to run GK technology across hybrid environments from on-premises to multi-cloud environments and at the edge.

“GK Software and IBM share a long partnership in the retail industry and many common customers,” said Michael Scheibner, chief strategy officer of GK Software. “We are very pleased to accompany retailers on their transition to the cloud in cooperation with IBM. We believe that we can make an excellent offer for holistic omnichannel processes based on state-of-the-art technology, especially to long-standing IBM customers.”

Luq Niazi, global managing director of IBM Consumer Industries, added: “The challenges facing many retailers are extensive; diverse customer expectations, intense competition, increased operational complexity and ongoing cost pressure, all while navigating the disruptions and uncertainty of today’s changing retail landscape. By adopting a hybrid cloud strategy with IBM and Red Hat technology, managed by IBM Services, Cloud4Retail can enable retailers to modernise applications and connect multiple technologies and the resulting data across the store, offering a more personalised and secured experience for shoppers.”

GK Software is a developer and provider of standard software for the retail sector, and counts 22 per cent of the world’s 50 largest retailers among its customer base. The company offers products for stores and enterprise headquarters as well as for the implementation of contemporary omnichannel retail concepts.

The company employs 1071 people across its headquarters in Schöneck in Germany and other locations in Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, South Africa, Russia, Ukraine and the USA. Its customers include Adidas, Edeka, Lidl, Aldi, Coop (Switzerland), Netto Marken-Discount, Hornbach, Migros, Grupo Kuo and Walmart. Its software is being used at almost 500,000 retail and payment installations across approximately 100,000 stores in more than 60 countries.

The company has grown rapidly in recent years and its sales revenues totalled €115.4m in 2020. It was founded in 1990 by CEO Rainer Gläß and deputy board member Stephan Kronmüller.