Digital at X5 Retail Group

• Main article: X5 Group
• Perekrestok retail chain
• Information technology in the Crossroads network
• Online business chain of stores Perekrestok

2024

Launch of a digital part-time exchange for employees

In September 2024 X5 Group , it announced the launch of a digital part-time exchange for its employees, allowing employees of stores and distribution centers of the company to choose additional shifts with instant payment. The platform, which connected more than 22 thousand stores of the "" chain and Five 40 distribution centers throughout, Russia is focused on facilitating the passage of the high season and improving the conditions for the company's employees.

According to the press service of the retailer, since the launch of the platform, more than 14 thousand employees have already registered on the stock exchange, having worked a total of about 127 thousand hours. In October 2024, Perekrestok stores will join the platform, and in the future, Chizhik stores and X5 Delivery couriers, which will further expand the opportunities for part-time work among X5 Group employees.

Kh5 launched a digital part-time exchange for employees with instant payment

The digital part-time exchange provides employees with the opportunity to quickly respond to free shifts offered by directors of stores and distribution centers. This gives workers flexibility in time and place of work, which is especially important during a period of high demand for labor, when the burden on retail outlets and distribution centers increases significantly.

According to Lilia Deryabina, director of development of the X5 Group personnel management system, the shift exchange is designed taking into account the needs of employees for additional earnings, while providing instant payment after the completion of the shift. Deryabina noted that this initiative is part of a larger HR MAX transformation program aimed at improving interaction with personnel and introducing innovative solutions to simplify processes.

In order to take advantage of the opportunities of the part-time exchange, X5 employees need to register in the platform's personal account, indicate their data, region and a convenient address for work. The system automatically checks for intersections with the main work schedule, which ensures that there are no conflicts with the main employment.

Pyaterochka launched the delivery of products by courier robots

The chain of stores "Pyaterochka," owned by X5 Group, in September 2024 officially launched the delivery of products using robotic couriers. At the first stage, the project is being implemented in several districts of Moscow, including Chasovaya Street, 1st Airport and Petrovsko-Razumovsky Passage. Automated delivery is still available for more than 35 thousand households, but in the future it is planned to expand the coverage area.

According to the press service of X5 Group, during the pilot project, Pyaterochka employees were able to independently manage and send rovers for orders using special software adapted for automated delivery.

According to Sergei Pankov, Managing Director of X5 Digital, Pyaterochka became the first retailer in Russia to introduce its own delivery system using courier robots.

Delivery automation allows us to achieve a new level of efficiency and convenience for customers. We plan to test various scenarios for robotic delivery, and this year we will expand the project to other areas of Moscow, "he said.

Pyaterochka courier robots are capable of moving up to two kilometers. They are equipped with modern sensors, including lidars, cameras and radars, which allow them to recognize obstacles and move safely along city streets.

They also use HD maps for accurate location. According to the developers, neural networks help robots make decisions about the route, and six driving wheels provide them with the ability to overcome curbs up to 10 centimeters high.^[1]

X5 completely switched to electronic waybills X5 completely switched to electronic waybills

X5 Group switched to the use of electronic consignment notes (ETrN), completing a pilot project to implement this solution. The transition to digital delivery notes covers the entire X5 Group network, including more than 25 thousand retail points and 63 distribution centers, which allows you to optimize the company's logistics processes and significantly reduce the risks associated with document management. Read more here.

Opening a landfill in the Moscow region for testing robots. Video

On March 13, 2024, X5 Group opened a specialized testing facility for robotization technologies on the basis of one of its distribution centers. It is assumed that this will help in the implementation of warehouse process automation systems in the group's retail network.

The landfill is located in Podolsk. Two types of systems are tested at the site - autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and autonomous forklifts (FMR). They move without human involvement and can perform various tasks depending on the instructions laid down. Specialized software allows you to simulate and analyze all scenarios for the interaction of robots with physical objects. This takes into account a wide range of parameters, including the variety of goods in the warehouse, their dimensions, storage and packaging conditions.

X5 Group has opened on the basis of one of its distribution centers a specialized landfill laboratory for testing robotization technologies

Various solutions for automating distribution centers will optimize several key business processes that traditionally spend a large amount of human resources on: moving and placing goods in the storage area, replenishing cells, selecting products for picking orders and transporting them to the shipping area. The introduction of robotic systems in the future will help reduce the number of personnel at distribution centers.

Partial automation of processes in existing warehouses will begin in 2024. X5 Group also plans to build a fully robotic distribution complex. The implementation of the robotization strategy followed by the X5 Group will allow the company to optimize logistics processes, increase labor productivity, reduce infrastructure costs and improve the quality of customer service.

The increase in the cost of linear personnel allowed us to look differently at logistics robotization projects, which until recently looked like an unattractive investment. Today we see here real opportunities to improve business efficiency and shift our priorities towards replacing both line and office employees with modern technological solutions, "says Vladimir Salakhutdinov, Director of Strategy and Business Development at X5 Group.[2]

2023

Investments of 12.5 billion rubles for digitalization

Kh5 Group, which manages the retail chains Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, Chizhik, Victoria, Krasny Yar and Slata, intends to invest tens of billions of rubles in the development of digital technologies and automation tools. Such systems will help partially solve the problem of personnel shortages, as well as increase the efficiency of business processes. The digitalization of the group is stated in the materials published on October 4, 2024.

According to the deputy general director of the Kh5 Vladimir Salakhutdinov, as of October 2024, the company has about 392 thousand employees. However, the further increase in the number of employees does not keep up with the growth of the business. The Kh5 expects to minimize the negative effect of the shortage of personnel thanks to robotization. In 2023, the group invested more than 12.5 billion rubles in technologies and innovations in the corresponding segment. It is expected that in the future, the solutions being implemented will automate 30% of the workflows in which people are involved.

X5 invested 12.5 billion rubles in digitalization

The situation developing in the market with personnel is a serious challenge for us. What is happening is a kind of trigger for market transformation. Retailers that are able to quickly implement innovative solutions that allow business to grow without a proportional increase in the number of employees will be able to maintain profitability and continue growth, says Salakhutdinov.

According to him, the digitalization of business allows not only to solve the problem of staff shortages, but also to increase the speed and quality of work. The company's projects cover a wide range of areas - from robotization and artificial intelligence to an innovative restructuring of the organizational model and the interaction scheme of divisions within the group. One way to automate is to implement self-service checkouts. As Salakhutdinov notes, they take on about half of the traffic on the network, and in some stores - 85%. The deputy general director of the Kh5 believes that in the future, the work of a cashier constantly sitting at the terminal may become a thing of the past.

An important area for Kh5 is the development of online sales channels. According to the company's estimates, the share of sales via the Internet over several years will exceed 10% of the total turnover of the entire group, and in Moscow and a number of large cities it will be significantly higher. For example, in the Perekrestok network as of autumn 2024, this figure already exceeds 10% and is expected to reach 20%. According to Salakhutdinov, the deterrent in the Internet segment was the need to develop a target operating model.

Today, this model has been formed, and the profitability indicator of the online channel in the coming years should be equal to offline retail. Therefore, now we plan to multiply the growth of online business without reducing the level of profitability of the Kh5 Group, "Salakhutdinov said.

As part of digitalization, Kh5 sets electronic price tags in its supermarkets. They allow you to free up a significant amount of working time for store employees to interact with customers and solve other important tasks. The technology eliminates the possibility of non-compliance of these prices for goods, including within the framework of promotions, which reduces financial losses due to incorrectly displayed information, and also increases the customer satisfaction index of stores.

In general, digitalization opens up opportunities for retail to grow in new sectors, as well as increase competitiveness and operational efficiency. The introduction of digital technologies allows the group to reach a completely new level of relations and interaction with buyers.^[3]

How artificial intelligence brought X5 additional income of 5 billion rubles per year

In 2023, the use of technologies based on artificial intelligence allowed X5 Group, which manages the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Chizhik networks, to receive additional revenues in the amount of approximately 5 billion rubles. Such data was released on April 22, 2024 by the IT company X5 Tech, the main digital partner of X5 Group.

According to TASS, referring to the statements of the managing director of X5 Tech Anton Mironenkov, X5 Group uses AI solutions for various purposes. One of these projects is the inventory planning system: thanks to AI algorithms, the group was able to reduce the number of written-off products by 2% and increase revenue by 1%. In addition, it was possible to "optimize stocks of goods along the entire supply chain by several percent."

The use of technologies based on artificial intelligence allowed X5 Group to receive additional revenues in the amount of approximately 5 billion rubles

Mironenkov also mentioned the so-called data-driven solutions - data-based services. This approach provides that a variety of data and insights are used to grow a business or individual products. The synergy of such solutions at the level of products and auxiliary services based on AI is an important factor for sustainable business development.

According to Mironenkov, the company created the X5 Gen AI platform for the application of generative neural networks in everyday processes. Among them are named virtual assistants, data analysis, generation of job descriptions, etc. The head of X5 Tech emphasizes that neural networks can bring a positive economic effect in business processes.

To increase the efficiency of transport using a neural network, you can build optimal traffic routes that take into account many factors - from the transport situation and weather to the most convenient acceptance window for a specific store. Another example is monitoring the availability of goods on the shelf, - notes Mironenkov.[4]

New data platform in X5 Group. How the company moved out of SAP storage, ditched Tableau and SAS

Speaking at the TAdviser SummIT conference on November 29, 2023, Kh5 Group data management director Tigran Sarkisov told how the largest Russian retailer in a short time abandoned storage based on SAP HANA and a number of imported BI tools, including Tableau. Read more here.

Opening of AI artificial intelligence laboratory based on AI Talent Hub - ML-masters from ITMO and Napoleon IT

X5 Tech, an IT company part of X5 Group, on September 5, 2023 announced the opening of an artificial intelligence laboratory based on AI Talent Hub - an ML master's degree from ITMO and Napoleon IT (Napoleon Aichi). The laboratory is organized in order to develop products based on AI and prepare ML and DS specialists capable of setting and solving applied tasks in the field of artificial intelligence in retail.

Already in the first stream, students will be offered the creation of MVP products using artificial intelligence technologies. In particular, such tasks will be developed as creating a geodata analytics system, a multi-camera buyer path tracker for optimal CVM, a model of generative networks for working with customer reviews in an online and offline environment for working with NPS and sales, creating a store model for processing cases according to the principles of A/B testing. Kh5 will provide infrastructure support for projects in a real IT environment. All rights to industry and commercial products and developments created in the laboratory remain Kh5.

Cooperation between AI Talent Hub and Kh5 will be long-term, 10 highly qualified specialists will be produced annually within the framework of the joint program. The faculty of the department will be both Kh5 employees and the scientific staff of AI Talent Hub - practicing industry specialists of the Senior, TechLead , TeamLead level.

Kh5, together with AI Talent Hub, forms an educational program and integrates its own courses from the School of Data Analysts, including data analysis, machine learning and data engineering. Students will experience the company's technology stack, mentors and corporate culture.

Kh5 and ITMO jointly finance the work of the laboratory. Kh5 also participate in a scholarship program to support students. Based on the results of training, novice specialists can get an internship, and middle engineers have the opportunity to work in a fast-track company.

Selection to the AI laboratory will Kh5 begin in September 2023. Admission requires good knowledge of Python, high technical literacy (algorithmic basis), understanding the basics of machine learning and deep-learning, the desire to engage in the engineering and infrastructure side of the business problem.

The Kh5 AI Solutions Laboratory at ITMO University is a space where talented undergraduates create relevant products based on advanced developments involving artificial intelligence. The joint program will allow students to test their knowledge and ideas in real business, and for the company to get new approaches to solving problems, to strengthen the R&D component in everyday work. We believe that motivated specialists who are ready to offer their vision of digital products will help us create new retail that will improve the lives of millions of buyers, "said Mikhail Neverov, director of data analysis at X5 Group.

For the development of our AI Talent Hub community and undergraduates, the launch of design and product formats along with strong partners is extremely important. We surprisingly coincided with the X5 Tech team in values ​ ​ and understanding how the project track in the master's degree should be arranged in order to provide a boost in the development of data analysts and ML engineers through involvement in research and product development for retail. And the best motivation for achievements for the guys here will be the opportunity to bring their ML developments into production under the guidance of mentors from X5, - said Dmitry Botov, project manager at AI Talent Hub and the master's program "Artificial Intelligence" at ITMO.

The retail industry is undergoing a revolution caused by the use of data generation and analysis technologies. We are happy that the masters of AI Talent Hub have the opportunity to take part in shaping the future of retail together with first-class professionals and ambitious leaders from the company, Kh5 said Pavel Podkorytov, co-founder of AI Talent Hub and Napoleon IT.

ITMO University conducts more than 100 courses in ML engineering, data analytics, project management and products in DS with partners every year. 90% of the university's faculty and mentors are experts from leading IT companies, research centers and the ODS community. This approach allows you to form an individual educational track for a master's student that meets the current business requirements.

The Polish IT vendor, who "laid down" the loyalty program "Perekrestka" and "Pyaterochki," settled the claim of X5 for 245 million rubles

As TAdviser found out in early June 2023, Kh5 filed a lawsuit for damages in the amount of about 245 million rubles against the Russian subsidiary of the Polish IT vendor Comarch - Komarch LLC, but then the retailer refused its claims. Information about this is contained in the file cabinet of Moscow arbitration courts.

In X5, in response to a request from TAdviser, they preferred not to delve into the details, which is due to their refusal to sue Komarh LLC. The dispute was probably settled peacefully. From the explanations to the financial accounting of Komarch LLC for 2022, published in the database of the Federal Tax Service, it follows that as of March 2023, the company was in the process of resolving a lawsuit from X5 represented by IKS5 Corporate Center.

At the moment, Kh5 has no claims against the vendor and does not use his products, - said TAdviser in the company.

Based on the Comarch solution, Kh5 worked on the processing of Pyaterochka loyalty programs, a network that brings Kh5 the vast majority of revenue, and Perekrestka. In March 2022, after the global Comarch announced the termination of activities in Russia due to the situation in Ukraine^[5], processing stopped working. Points deduction and accrual, favorite category of products, personal offers, coupon checks, etc. became unavailable.

Over the next months, while X5 was migrating to a new platform based on the Russian Loymax solution, the loyalty program of these retail chains functioned with shortcomings.

Moreover, X5 has not been publicly voiced for a long time, on the basis of the product of which IT supplier the "fallen" loyalty processing worked. Only recently, at one of the industry conferences, a Kh5 representative mentioned that the product of the Polish vendor was used.

In a corporate blog on Habr, the company wrote in September 2022 that the loyalty processing vendor refused X5 support for the system, and it stopped working. Since the system was located on the vendor's cloud servers, and the X5 did not have access to either the database or the code, the retailer could not independently resume the work of this solution^[6]since the project did not have its own computing resources capable of processing the required amount of data, X5 also had to build an IT infrastructure from scratch, according to a blog post.

The explanations to the financial accounting of Komarkh LLC for 2022 contain information that the company rented racks in the data center on the street. Borovaya in Moscow. DataLine data center is located at the specified address.

A sharp disconnection from the system was preceded by about 15 years of Comarch's cooperation with the X5^[7]. In addition to the largest Russian retailer, such companies as S7, Auchan, MTS were named among the clients of the Polish developer and integrator of IT solutions in Russia at different times. Global customers include BP, Leroy Merlin, Unilever, Heathrow Airport, etc.

According to the database of legal entities, as of the beginning of June 2023, the Russian subsidiary Comarch continues to operate. There is no hint of plans to liquidate the legal entity in the explanations for its financial accounting for 2022. The revenue of Komarh LLC in 2022 decreased by 79%, to 122.6 million rubles. Net loss amounted to 20.3 million rubles.

Implementation of voice assembly and packaging of goods in distribution centers

On April 3, 2023, food retailer X5 Group announced the development of its own voice assembly solution at its distribution centers. The technology has helped improve productivity and cut costs, the company said.

We are talking about the introduction of an AI assistant that helps warehouse workers in the assembly and packaging of goods for shipment. It recognizes and synthesizes speech, knows a set of commands and can create tasks to replenish goods.

Before voice solutions, warehouse workers relied on paper and pens to track inventory. With the advent of foreign voice solutions, productivity increased by 30-40%. The current solution based on Russian developments showed an increase in productivity by another 5-10% relative to the foreign solution. This performance improvement has resulted in a significant reduction in the time to assemble and package goods for shipment, resulting in faster delivery and satisfied customers.

The voice assembly solution allowed X5 to continue with its plan to open distribution centers. The company identified the risks of equipment failure, reducing the risk of failure by 20%, ensuring the efficient operation of distribution centers. The solution has more than 150 integration parameters and additional features such as support for Uzbek and Russian-Uzbek languages and route planning, X5 said.

The company tested 12 headset models to provide the most optimal and efficient solution. The new solution is compact and has an industrial design, making it easy to use and operate. It, according to the retailer's press service, can be attached to the employee's wrist using a built-in belt, providing maximum mobility and flexibility when performing tasks.

2022

Russians can now withdraw cash from the card of any bank at the cash desks in Pyaterochka without commission

The Russians were able to withdraw cash from the card of any Russian bank at the cash desks in Pyaterochka without a commission. The retailer announced this on December 7, 2022. Read more here.

Converting robots and their infrastructure from UiPath to Russian

The X5 group has moved its robots and their infrastructure from the UiPath system to the Russian one. This became known in early October 2022. Read more here.

X5 Group turned towards Asia in search of technology startups: "In Europe and the United States, we have nothing to surprise"

In 2021, as part of the global scouting program (search for innovative technologies and startup projects), the X5 Group retailer studied more than 1.5 thousand innovative solutions - Russian and foreign. With 59 of them in the same year, it came to pilot projects, with 29 - to rollout. As TAdviser was told in the X5 Group, the company's search for innovations in Europe is considered successful, but in 2022 it now does not do direct scouting in Europe and the United States, but strengthens its focus on Asia. Moreover, this is due not only to the changed geopolitical situation.

The search for innovative solutions and startups of the X5 Group in accordance with requests from the business is carried out by a special scouting unit. It is small and cannot analyze the entire global innovation market, so the retailer cooperates with venture capital funds and accelerators that aggregate startups and select the solutions it needs.

In Russia, X5 Group cooperates with the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF). She also participates in the Retail Innovation Tech Alliance (RITA), which in addition to it includes M.Video-Eldorado, Beeline, Hoff and the leading retail and retail network of Kazakhstan Magnum. In 2021, SAP, Microsoft and Nvidia joined RITA's technology partners. And for international search, X5 Group used one of the largest American accelerators Plug & Play (which grew Google^[8]."

The X5 Group's 2021 annual report states that Plug & Play provided it with an overview of innovative solutions from Europe, the United States and Brazil, the Axis accelerator and the Israel Trade Mission in Russia - an in-depth analysis of Israeli solutions, Invest India helped with scouting in India, the statutory council under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Government of Singapore Enterprise Singapore - in the study of Singapore technologies^[9].

We can call scouting in Israel and Europe effective. As a result of the selection, for example, we have introduced temperature labels from Evigence on an industrial scale. In our own product "Express Scan" we used the technology of scanning barcodes - Scandit. In Israel, they found a solution to analyze client reviews from open sources Revuze, but based on the product "Feedback," but went into circulation with Russian development. These are just some of the solutions we are testing - gave examples of TAdviser in the X5 Group.

Extensive scouting in 2021 was also carried out in China, but turned out to be ineffective, follows from the annual report.

In 2021, we actively entered Asian scouting markets, in particular China. The specificity of the Chinese innovation market is that startups there are focused on the domestic consumer. Due to the large domestic market, startups are not interested in going beyond it, - explained TAdviser in the company.

Of the interesting technologies that X5 Group has considered in the Chinese market - look payment, self-service systems, including stores. But the company says that X5 Group developed some of these technologies on its own, so it did not need to attract local startups.

After the start of the military operation in February, international cooperation, primarily with organizations from Western countries, was difficult, and many technology companies announced that they would curtail business in Russia and leave the country.

Roman Timaev, director of innovation at Kh5 Group, told TAdviser that the company now does not do direct scouting in Europe and the United States. However, there are other countries.

In the funnel, for example, accelerators of Israel and the UAE, we are faced with the same startups that we saw in the funnel of the same Plag & Play. So, access to them remains, "says Timaev. - But even without current trends, our focus in 2022 should have been on Asia. The fact is that in recent years we have viewed the whole of Europe and the United States. There is nothing to surprise us in this market.

And the tasks of import substitution of IT, which faced the X5 Group against the background of the geopolitical situation, pushed the company to a new approach in scouting.

The implementation of the import substitution task showed us that the search for solutions in the market is not as difficult as it seemed before. It is just necessary to understand what you are looking for. Therefore, the new approach will be to analyze technology trends and subsequent narrowly focused scouting. This will help optimize budget and labor costs, "Kh5 Group Innovation Director told TAdviser.

X5 Group has completed the separation of online businesses into a separate structure

On July 18, 2022, X5 Group announced the completion of the process of separating online businesses into a separate structure, which it announced a year ago. The X5 Digital business unit will manage the express delivery technology platform, the infrastructure of small darkstores that provide delivery within 40 minutes of the Pyaterochka and Perekrestka assortments, as well as the infrastructure of large darkstores with an expanded assortment under the brand Vprok.ru. Read more here.

Kh5 Group's big data storage has grown to 10 petabytes. The retailer has expanded the application of analytics

In 2021, retailer Kh5 Group doubled its storage capacity to 10 petabytes, according to its annual report.

We are actively increasing our own infrastructure capacity, storage volumes have really grown to 10 PB, told TAdviser in Kh5. - For the efficient functioning of the ecosystem around the needs of customers, X5 requires its own reliable and high-quality service for identifying, storing and using customer data.

By mid-2022, the Kh5 has accumulated 64 million gold customer records, which allow you to apply a data-driven approach and implement solutions on big data such as assortment management, demand forecasting, AB platform and others.

Data management in the company is carried out on the basis of a uniform data management policy for the whole Kh5, taking into account the peculiarities and maturity of each individual business unit or trading network. It, like the control of the entire technological unit, is organized according to a domain-oriented model, TAdviser was told in Kh5. However, a number of competencies and services are provided centrally: for example, master data, data architecture, security.

According to X5's internal estimates, the company actively uses up to 60% of its data for analytical purposes.

The applications are extensive. For example, Big Data analytics of buyer transactions allows you to draw more informed conclusions regarding consumer demand.

First of all, information is being collected on purchases in retail chains, and Pyaterochka "Crossroads" Karusel. In addition to check data, the list of goods that are sold at a certain point in time, information is also collected for manufacturers: for example, product valuation, product sales ratings are compiled through an online and offline channel. If the buyer regularly purchases a certain category of goods or products of a specific brand, then he may be asked to share his opinion about this product. Manufacturers track in their personal account on the Dialog X5 platform which products are in demand and which are not^[10]

Using big data in X5 hypermarkets, product layouts are automatically generated taking into account the properties of trading equipment, customer preferences, data on the sales history of certain categories of goods and other factors.

At the same time, the correctness of the layout and the number of products on the shelf is monitored in real time: video analytics and computer vision technologies analyze the video stream coming from the cameras and highlight events according to the specified parameters. Store employees, for example, will receive a signal that cans with canned peas are out of place or that^[11] condensed food has ended on the shelves^[12].

In 2021, X5 expanded a big data-based project in the field of CVM (Customer Value Management), which automates personalized offers for buyers, according to its annual report.

In the same year, the retailer's transport company, X5 Transport, expanded the use of big data, including about 4.6 thousand units of vehicles and more than 10 thousand employees. Artificial intelligence helps to improve the efficiency of fleet management and improve the capabilities of services and solutions for planning the monitoring of their own and rented vehicles.

At the same time, earlier in the Kh5 they said that some of its Big Data services are provided on a reimbursable basis - a small set of products that are available for the market. It is physically impossible to recoup the costs of collecting and processing data by these services. Revenues are more likely to support the current team, which is engaged in the development of the product.

Against the background of a large-scale failure, the processing of loyalty programs of the Perekrestok and Karusel networks is switching to the Russian solution

X5 Retail Group is transferring the loyalty programs of Perekrestok and Karusel retail chains to Russian-developed processing, the company told TAdviser on May 6, 2022.

During the technical work with the help of a loyalty card, it will be possible to continue to accrue points for purchases, get a discount when presenting a card, including goods with promotional price tags. At the same time, the functions of writing off and viewing loyalty points both at the cash desks of chain stores and in mobile applications, as well as the release and registration of new cards and some other services will not be available for this period, - said in X5 Retail Group. - Conversion to new processing is a necessary measure to ensure the protection of our customers and ensure continuous and uninterrupted operation.

The change of platform in X5 Retail Group was explained to TAdviser by technical failures in the current solution on the side of external contractors.

Previously, the company issued a message for Perekrestka customers, in which it explained the suspension of a number of loyalty program privileges on the side of an external contractor by technical problems: registration in the program, deduction of bonus points, personal offers, selection of your favorite category of products, etc.

In addition, since the first days of May, new purchases made in the Perekrestka mobile application have ceased to be displayed, and checks have stopped arriving by e-mail. In any case, such problems were observed by one of the TAdviser journalists as a Crossroads client. X5 Retail Group says these problems are also related to the loyalty program. Which external contractor has technical problems, which foreign solution is used for processing in loyalty programs, and which Russian solution he is moving to, X5 Retail Group does not specify.

The company uses SAP ERP, an enterprise resource management system. SAP, we recall, against the background of the situation in Ukraine, reported the termination of sales in Russia, the curtailment of its cloud data center and intentions to stop supporting Russian customers. However, the SAP solution is not related to the loyalty program of retail chains, TAdviser was specified in X5 Retail Group. Thus, the problems are not related to the vendor's departure from the country.

One of the X5 Retail Group vacancies, published in April 2022, states that the company has the largest loyalty processing in Europe, and that the technology stack used in it includes Tarantool, MongoDB, Redis, PostgreSQL^[13].

The process of transferring the loyalty program to the processing of Russian development in March 2022 began in Pyaterochka. There, problems began to be observed even earlier than in the Crossroads. For example, back in March, customers had chronic difficulties with deducting points from the Pyaterochka bonus card.

X5 asks employees to disable automatic software updates in devices to prevent them from being blocked

On March 2, 2022, it became known that X5 asked employees to disable automatic software updates in their devices in order to prevent their blocking.

As part of possible sanctions, the blocking functionality can be included in regular updates of devices and applications, - says the letter that the retailer sent to its employees (an excerpt from it is provided by RBC).

This letter is also attached laptops Apple with instructions on how to disable automatic updates on computers, smartphones, as well as smartphones running. operating system Android

Experts interviewed by RBC doubt that Apple and Google will decide to block users' devices. Thus, Alexey Lukatsky, a specialist in the field of information security, explained that disabling auto updates will not help protect against blocking, since such features are built-in and are not related to updates. In turn, Igor Mikhailov, a specialist at the Group-IB digital forensics laboratory, cited as an example the fact that both iOS and Android have similar functions that allow you to block gadgets remotely, for example, in case of theft.

Lukatsky suggested that the only option is to completely disconnect the smartphone from the Internet, but in the case of Apple, this also does not look like a reliable step, since the iPhone cannot turn off Wi-Fi, after a certain period of time it turns on itself.

Anton Imennov, managing partner of the Moscow office of the Pen & Paper Bar Association, told the publication that despite the large list of sanctions, mobile devices and consumer software are "allowed for free export."

The source of the publication in the IT market noted that by disabling automatic updates, companies may try to protect themselves from the fact that these updates will deliberately contain a certain vulnerability.^[14]

2021

X5 Group launched its first fintech service

X5 Group launched its first fintech service, which the retailer announced on November 19, 2021. The project was named "X5 Bank," it is being implemented jointly with Alfa-Bank. Read more here.

Start using a robot to check price tags and display goods on shelves

On August 10, 2021, the chain of stores Five"" announced the start of use robot for checking the display of goods and price tags. The device is designed. NPO "Android Technology" More. here

Kh5 divides the digital business into a separate division

On June 24, 2021, X5 Group announced the separation of its digital business into a separate division. Such a restructuring was approved by the supervisory board of the company.

According to Interfax, citing the press service of X5 Group, the development of the digital direction is among the main priorities of the retailer in 2021-2023. To achieve this goal, the company is considering several options that include attracting investors, establishing a strategic partnership and organic business development.

X5 reported that by the end of 2021 it is planned to complete an in-depth analysis of strategic options for creating a digital business company. By June 24, neither the name of the new unit nor other details regarding its work are known - X5 promises to disclose the information later.

In June 2021, in a conversation with Interfax, Kh5 Chief Executive Officer Igor Shekhterman announced the growing digital revenue from the company.

The pandemic [coronavirus COVID-19 - approx. TAdviser] acted as a catalyst, many buyers tried this service for the first time. I can give some figures: for example, the revenue of digital services in the first quarter reached half of the revenue for the entire last [2020] year, that is, 10.5 billion rubles, he said.

The company has several delivery services: Pyaterochka delivery"," The intersection is fast"," "Perekrestok for future use," an aggregator of express delivery services Near"." X5 also develops 5Post - a service for the delivery of goods from online stores.

Net revenue of Perekrestok for future use in January-March 2021 increased by 114.3% and amounted to 4.5 billion rubles, revenue of express delivery services - 5.5 billion rubles (an increase of 53 times). The number of orders in express delivery services amounted to 45.6 thousand per day with an average check of 1,518 rubles.^[15]

X5 Retail Group Merges IT and Big Data Divisions, Changes Tech Support Approach

In 2020, X5 Group restructured its internal IT teams, forming and launching a new business area - Kh5 Technologies, according to the company's annual report, published in March 2021. The new division includes IT and Big Data teams.

This was a logical step in the development of the company's technological expertise, as well as part of the plan to become a leader in digital retail, the annual report said. - The pandemic and the increased role of technology in business success have pushed for this business unit. X5 becomes a data-driven company with digitized processes and solutions based on big data analytics.

The head of the new business unit in the company was Anton Mironenkov, at that time the director of big data.

The key task of Kh5 Technologies is to create comprehensive digital solutions for the company's business and retail chains with high efficiency and influence on financial performance, TAdviser explained in X5 Retail Group.

X5 Technologies is responsible for the digital transformation of the entire company, therefore, employees of this division are involved in projects related to all business units, and can solve problems related to both the functions of the front office and the back office, the annual report explains.

The activities of the division cover both infrastructure and support, etc., follows from the annual report. It was decided to abandon traditional IT support and move to an approach where digital professionals become part of the business unit team. One of the advantages of this approach is a reduction in decision-making time and the ability to quickly respond to external factors.

According to the report, Kh5 Technologies is working on more than 30 products, is involved in more than 120 projects, is responsible for supporting 324 IT systems, and the involved IT infrastructure includes about 1.2 thousand physical servers and storage with 5 petabytes of accumulated data.

At the end of 2020, the number of employees of Kh5 Technology is 2.7 thousand people, TAdviser was told in X5 Retail Group. The company does not disclose plans for hiring in 2021, but the strategy of the business unit includes the active development of teams and increased efficiency.

The main task of Kh5 Technologies is to support the digital transformation and implementation of key business initiatives of the company. Therefore, when launching new products or initiatives in 2021, an increase in the number of Kh5 Technologies employees is possible, which is necessary to provide high-quality support for the implementation of business objectives, TAdviser told X5 Retail Group.

In addition to the internal digital division, X5 Retail Group also has a separate company - IT X 5 Technologies LLC, created in 2018 and based in Innopolis. X5 Retail Group explained that it is a division of X5 Technology. Employees of this competence center are developing part of digital products for different business units and retail chains Kh5 Retail Group, the company explained to TAdviser.

Introduction of technology for paying for purchases by looking at supermarkets "Perekrestok" and "Pyaterochka"

In 52 supermarkets, Intersection"" payment for purchases with a glance became available. The company X5 Retail Group announced this on March 10, 2021. More. here

2020

Installing Digital Customer Information Assistants

On June 2, 2020, it became known that the Pyaterochka retail chain had installed digital information assistants for buyers. As part of the pilot, multifunctional devices are located in entrance groups in 30 stores of the Pyaterochka chain in Moscow and the Moscow region, and in the near future they will appear in 50 more stores of the retail chain in the region.

The device was developed by the innovative division of the Pyaterochka retail chain and is a point of interaction with the buyer and loyalty system, as well as the job portal and feedback window. In addition, the device has a button for a signal about help in a difficult situation for lost people as part of the joint project "Pyaterochki" with the search and rescue squad "Lisa Alert."

The digital assistant is equipped with a 32-inch touchscreen that displays ads and informs the buyer about special offers and promotions, which reduces the number of printed catalogs. The interface is intuitive and easy to use by the customer.

The functionality of the device easily adapts to different business tasks due to the technical and software capabilities inherent in the development. Guests of the retail network can use the digital assistant to receive a coupon for a discount, check the balance of their "Help-card," activate it if necessary, as well as complete a survey, leave a review about the store, see the current vacancies and respond to them. In the future, it is planned to integrate the ability to sell Stoloto tickets, order goods from Aliexpress, and pay for housing and communal services into the device.

We are actively working to improve the client path and feedback service. Digital assistants provide additional opportunities for both our guests - with their help in a convenient and simple format, you can familiarize yourself with current promotions and personal offers, share your impression of the store, and for us - we analyze and take into account all recommendations for improving the quality of service. Thus, we plan to increase the loyalty of our guests, as well as take another step towards taking care of nature, reducing the number of printed advertising materials and offering guests a convenient digital solution, - noted Alexander Chukhontsev, director of the customer experience department of the Pyaterochka retail chain

A Massive Transition to Virtual Reality Learning

On May 19, 2020, X5 Group announced a large-scale transition to training store employees in virtual reality. The technology will help remotely, without the full-time participation of the teacher, to train personnel in various functions and skills, including competent dialogue with the buyer and warehouse management. Read more here.

Sales of the X5 network through its own online platforms grew 4.7 times over the year

On May 6, 2020, X5 Group the grocery retail company Russia reported TAdviser that online sales of Kh5 Retail Group through platforms Perekrestok.ru and "" Delivery. Pyaterochka amounted to 1.7 billion rubles (VAT including) in April, showing an increase of 4.7 times. In ^[1] year-on-year, which, according ^[2] the company, provided Kh5 leadership in the online food delivery segment in. In the Russia structure of Kh5 turnover, sales through online channels in April accounted for 2% of the company's total sales in, and To Moscow- Moscow region St. Petersburg regions where as of May 6, 2020 these services are available to customers of the network. By the end of April, the Kh5 delivered more than 23 thousand orders to consumers every day, and this figure continues to grow.

According to X5 estimates, effective operating models of both online platforms, investments in digital transformation in recent years, the right strategy for the development of digital services, the formation of a strong team, as well as the impressive purchasing power of the Kh5, as a leading grocery retailer in the country.

Since 2017, Kh5 Retail Group has invested in the creation of infrastructure for the operation of its online platforms, including the equipment of four ^[3]., Its own fleet of 283 light trucks for delivering goods to Perekrestok.ru consumers, as well as IT infrastructure a shopping interface for online operations. In the context, COVID-19 these investments have once again proven their strategic value, and those operational solutions that were chosen by the company's management to develop online sales channels have shown their rapid scalability. In particular, the launch of the fourth darkstore (g.,) will allow Vidnoye Moscow region Kh5 to increase the number of orders performed through Perekrestok.ru in Moscow and the Moscow region by 40% when reaching full capacity (up to 10 thousand orders in self-isolation and a large volume of each order, up to 15 thousand orders on normal days), and the Kh5 's express delivery solution was promoted in Moscow in 3 months so that in April this service became available to 100% of households within the Moscow Moscow Ring Road, and will be equally quickly scaled St. Petersburg up in 5-6 more large Russian cities by the end of 2020 out of more than 500 stores.

The Kh5 Retail Group plans for 2020 - an exit with a proposal to Perekrestok.ru in Nizhny Novgorod in the summer, based on the decision to use the area of ​ ​ the former Karusel hypermarket for equipment in it darkstore. This will be a full-fledged offer of online food sales with a wide range of products, including fresh products in the regional market, outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. By the end of 2020, it is planned to scale and work out the effectiveness of processes in express Kh5 delivery in order to increase market share in this segment, as well as for a faster exit of this business to the point of operational breakeven. In addition, the Kh5 plans to launch express delivery from Perekrestok stores based on the Perekrestok mobile application. Fast.

During the quarantine measures in place to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Russia March 21 to May 11, our consumers need safer ways to get food for home consumption more than ever without going or going to the store. X5 was able to offer our fellow citizens in the largest cities of their presence two convenient ways to meet various needs - buying for future use in an online supermarket (in Moscow, Moscow region and St. Petersburg) a wide range of food, household goods, personal hygiene, children's goods and products for pets, as well as express delivery from a nearby store Five (176 outlets in Moscow and) Kazan for 1.5-2 hours based on the assortment of our standard convenience store . In April, the total number of orders delivered through both online platforms amounted to more than 520 thousand, of which 262 thousand orders through Perekrestok.ru and 259 thousand orders through Delivery. Pyaterochka. The average check was 4,537 rubles in an online supermarket, where our consumers can choose from more than 27 thousand items of goods (67% of the assortment is food), and in express delivery 2,006 rubles, when choosing from 4 thousand Pyaterochka products. Most of the Perekrestok.ru facilities reached a positive unit economy based on the results of work in March and April. Having motivated and highly qualified management teams in each of our online businesses, Kh5 is confidently gaining weight as one of the leaders e-commerce in Russia. We attribute the current success not only to the quarantine situation caused coronavirus when home consumption of food and consumer goods has increased substantially, but also to the rapidly changing preferences of the consumer Kh5 follows, according to its mission and strategy, X5 CEO Igor Shekhterman said

Kh5 predicts further growth of the online food sales market in Russia, as well as an increase in its market share in 2020 and further in the segment of food delivery to consumers.

The X5 Retail Group's Big Data Directorate has grown to several hundred people. What do they do?

X5 Group has increased the staff of the Big Data Directorate to 340 people, follows from the company's annual report published in March 2020. The directorate was created in March 2018. X5 Retail Group cited TAdviser with data that its workforce grew by 200 people in 2019.

We plan to further strengthen the team and hire professionals with the necessary competencies. The expansion is related to the development and implementation of new projects, the company told TAdviser.

The annual report highlights that data quality and availability is one of the key success factors for the company, and Kh5 Retail Group places a strong emphasis on the organization and culture of data management.

The Big Data Directorate introduces a data-driven management culture and data management processes that involve all business units and functions, as indicated there.

The annual report provides information that every day the company collects about 7 million data values ​ ​ through its loyalty programs and uses internal resources to develop analytical products and services that help differentiate from competitors in the market.

The Big Data Directorate develops and develops several dozen services for internal use and external consumers. According to a spokesman for the Kh5 Retail Group, the company's networks already use analytics and management solutions for pricing, assortment and promotions using Big Data tools.

For example, in 2019, the company conducted a pilot and began introducing automated tender purchases of sugar, salt and other products of the Grocery category in the Pyaterochka retail chain using a solution created on the basis of Big Data algorithms. Automation has affected almost all stages of the tender procurement process: from forecasting the required volume of products to creating an order and a delivery schedule by day. When forming lots for bidders, several parameters are taken into account, such as the price of products on the exchange, the history of previous trades, seasonality, etc.

According to the annual report, with the help of the Big Data-based solution for automated assortment formation, networks now manage the assortment for 28 categories of goods, which make up more than 60% of all sales. New assortment matrices are developed based on an understanding of customer demand, the roles of each of the product categories and their contribution to overall sales.

For automated pricing, the company has a separate system.

Our automated pricing system allows X5 to make more accurate and timely price decisions. This has helped us improve price perception and price positioning. Using algorithms and regular monitoring of competitors' prices, we can automate our price decision-making, the company explains in its annual report.

The press service of X5 Retail Group told TAdviser that data analytics products are also being implemented for suppliers based on a single portal and an analysis of the effectiveness of the use of advertising channels by X5 Retail Group partners.

Another working product is predicting the response to promotions, preventing the outflow of buyers, launching personalized special offers selected by the machine learning method.

Technologies for video monitoring of queues, detection of voids on shelves, control of the fruit and vegetable zone based on computer vision are piloted. Regarding the latter, in September 2019, a pilot was launched in 38 Pyaterochka stores and 6 Perekrestok supermarkets in Moscow and the Moscow region. The solution based on computer vision in real time recognizes objects of different classes, and also records their absence. In case of deviation from the target parameters, the store personnel are automatically notified.

In the department of fruits and vegetables, artificial intelligence is able not only to analyze voids in general, but also to determine the presence or absence of individual goods on shelves and in boxes, as well as to record violations of the appearance of the zone. The press service of X5 Retail Group told TAdviser that this pilot is still underway while the company processes the results.

It follows from the annual report that big data is used in X5 Retail Group and to collect and process feedback from company personnel at all levels to use the findings for further decision-making. Thus, in cooperation with the Big Data Directorate, a polling platform was introduced into the mobile application used by Pyaterochka employees. In 2020, it is planned to scale it to other businesses of X5 Retail Group.

X5 Retail Group moves 95% of office workers to remote work

On March 23, 2020, TAdviser learned that the Kh5 transferred about 17,000 employees to remote work, which is 82% of the staff of Moscow offices. Until March 27, 2020, the number of remote workers will reach 95%. Only employees in critical roles remain in the offices in terms of maintaining continuous business operations.

The preparation of the transfer to a remote format of work of employees of regional offices, including a service center in Nizhny Novgorod, has begun.

To organize remote work in such a volume, the company carried out a number of operational measures. In just a few days, the needs of all departments of Kh5 and retail networks in the necessary IT infrastructure were clearly identified: as of March 2020, about 14,000 VPN licenses were issued, about 10,000 corporate laptops were brought into line with increased security requirements for remote work. IT support works in mobilization mode: user requests are processed within a special hotline, the necessary instructions are finalized and distributed, the bandwidth of communication channels and VPN is expanded. All systems cope with increased load.

In Moscow offices, as well as in stores in the Moscow region, a mandatory procedure for measuring the body temperature of employees when arriving and during the working day was introduced, a temporary ban on business trips outside the Russian Federation was introduced, events and visitors' access were limited, full-time training was suspended.

All employees who return from trips abroad, in accordance with the order of the chief executive officer of the Kh5, are required to undergo a period of self-isolation (14 days). If possible, the employee can work remotely. All employees with the slightest symptoms of ARVI, including a body temperature above 37 degrees, are not allowed on Kh5 objects.

At the same time, the burden on employees of distribution centers, transport, stores, which provide increased demand from customers, has increased. The number of staff in stores has been increased, the work schedule has been changed and additional staff have been put to work. The work of the offices has been rebuilt in such a way as to provide maximum support for the work of distribution centers and stores.

Retail employees continue to be provided with personal protective equipment: masks, gloves, disinfectants. Stores regularly disinfect premises, frequently used surfaces (trolleys, door handles, etc.), as well as ventilation systems.

Creation of Retail Innovation Tech Alliance

On February 25, 2020, M.Video-Eldorado Group told TAdviser that it had formed an alliance with X5 Group, Beeline and Hoff to find and implement innovations. Retail Innovation Tech Alliance (RITA) will look for technological solutions both on the Russian market and on international startup sites. Read more here.

Launch of the first Digital Academy modules

On February 10, 2020, X5 Group announced the launch of the first modules of the Digital Academy, a corporate educational platform for the development of digital skills and knowledge of employees.

Training at the academy will allow you to acquire or develop the technological competencies necessary for effective work in the digital environment. The main educational areas at the academy will be change and product management, analytics and work with, the data use of digital tools, deepening technical expertise and digital culture. Courses are selected individually based on the role of the employee in the company: technical functions and experts, product owners, top management, line personnel, etc. Employees of the Kh5 trade and networks Five"," "," "Intersection Carousel" will be able to undergo training at the academy.

It is planned to launch more than 40 educational products for various levels of training. The academy provides various training formats: reference visits and exchange of experience, face-to-face lectures, online courses, practical classes and laboratories, coaching sessions, seminars and master classes. Teaching will be conducted by both representatives of companies and attracted specialists from leading universities, partner companies and online learning systems.

Business Kh5 can be roughly divided into two parts - traditional retail operations and a digital task block. As of February 2020, more than 1,500 IT and Data specialists Kh5 in the staff of the corporate center alone. In 2020, we will actively increase their number to implement one of the strategy areas - digital transformation of Kh5. One of the tasks of the academy is to help the current employees of the company develop their technical skills and acquire knowledge and competencies. We plan that in 2020 several thousand of our colleagues will undergo training, comments on the launch of the Digital Academy Tatyana Krasnoperova, HR and Organizational Development Director, Kh5 Retail Group

The academy is already undergoing training by Kh5 product teams, and in 2020 internal schools in the areas of Python and Data Science will begin their work. Programs in current digital areas will be implemented and a single platform will appear on which the company's employees will be able to train.

2019

A system for analyzing delays at cash desks of its own design has been implemented in all stores Kh5

On December 24, 2019, X5 Group announced that an automatic delay analysis system at cash registers was implemented in all stores of Kh5 chains. The authors of the system are 7 developers of the company, the patent holder was Kh5. The solution has been phased in since 2018, and as of December 2019 it operates in 15,752 stores. Read more here.

Results of the pilot on automation of tender purchases of the Grocery category in Pyaterochka

On December 17, 2019, X5 Group announced the results of the pilot to automate tender purchases of sugar, salt and other products of the Grocery category in the Pyaterochka retail chain. A solution based on the Big Data X5 algorithms increases the efficiency of the procurement process.

Automation has affected almost all stages of the tender procurement process: from forecasting the required volume of products to creating an order and a delivery schedule by day. When forming lots for bidders, several parameters are taken into account, such as the price of products on the exchange, the history of previous trades, seasonality, etc.

Since April 2019, the solution has been successfully operating in pilot mode for 20 products of the Grocery category in the Volga macro-region of the Pyaterochka retail chain, providing 1326 stores. These are the most popular products of the category: sugar, salt, rice, peas, cereals, cereals. Testing has shown that an automated approach allows you to increase the accuracy of forecasting the required volumes, reduce the impact of the human factor. The system is also able to monitor and analyze the entire process, determine its effectiveness and stages that require optimization, as well as accumulate user expertise to further improve the quality of the process.

In the near future, the company plans to expand this system in the Grocery category to all regions of the presence of the Pyaterochka retail chain, the inclusion of other categories of tender positions, as well as the implementation of the solution in other Kh5 networks.

X5 Retail Group wants to completely switch to electronic price tags

On December 16, 2019, it became known about X5 Group's plans to equip all stores of the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel chains with electronic price tags. This is not the only digital project in the grocery retailer. Read more here.

GPMD Subscribes to X5 Retail Group Data for Video Advertising Campaigns

GPMD (Gazprom-Media Digital, a subsidiary of NSC) began to use anonymized information about consumer purchases in X5 Retail Group stores (Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, Karusel chains). The data Kh5 Retail Group will allow GPMD to target video advertising campaigns for buyers of specific products or brands, while reducing the cost of contact with the target audience by 14%.

The first projects posted by GPMD in cooperation with X5 Retail Group were advertising campaigns for Huggies (Kimberly-Clark/Mindshare) and cat and dog food brands implemented with Group M agencies, as well as for May Tea. Interest in posting video ads using X5 Retail Group data has already been shown by manufacturers of consumer goods (FMCG) - groceries, beer, snacks, energy drinks, confectionery and pasta.

The audience.x5.ru platform created by X5 Retail Group helps to create classroom segments of various complexity depending on the frequency of brand purchases in 1300 product categories and a number of other parameters. The advertiser can launch campaigns on the inventory of players in the Internet market. Based on the results of the campaign, the customer has access to advanced sales-lift analytics for each of the segments. In particular, data on the influence of the campaign or individual creatives on the increase in sales.

GPMD uses purchase data as part of a hybrid placement model. Seller suggests that brands use two types of targeting in one ad campaign to keep their classroom reach from losing: the first is based on data from X5 Retail Group, the second is based on socio-demographic data with priority on consumers. Placement on a single GPMD platform allows you to implement end-to-end frequency and eliminate simultaneous user coverage in two ways.

The hybrid model reduces the cost of contact with the target audience by applying different strategies. Thus, the model allows you to narrow the audience coverage by excluding those representatives of the socio-demographic group who are not consumers of this commodity category. Or, on the contrary, expand coverage at the expense of those people who go beyond the age-sex range, delineating the core of the target audience of the brand, but, nevertheless, are consumers of this product. A tangible gain in price is achieved due to a larger share of consumers with a significantly smaller total placement volume. According to GPMD, the hybrid model can reduce the cost of contact by at least 14%.

During the GPMD campaign for pet food, video advertising was based on data from retail chains and targeted at buyers of this product. According to a GPMD survey of respondents who saw advertising brands, the placement affinity was 160 points when targeting cat owners and 260 points when placing on dog owners. The affinity indicator demonstrates the ratio of the share of consumers of the product among people covered by advertising relative to the share of such people in the population of Russia. Thus, buyers of cat food in the campaign audience were on average one and a half times more than in the case of placement without targeting or using socio-demographic targeting. In the case of buyers of dog food, the figure was 2.6 times higher.

"This project and the first results are something that many advertisers have long been waiting for. Our GPMD partner, as always, advocated the introduction of the latest technologies for his clients and largely ensured success, - says Dmitry Prusov, director of big data product development at X5 Retail Group. - There are many options to consider when planning campaigns using data. Targeting by socio-demographic characteristics does not provide an opportunity to increase efficiency or reduce the cost of placements, and in the struggle for the target client, advertisers have long been looking for complementary targeting. There are many of them on the market, but X5 data add information directly about the consumption of goods, and most importantly can be used in a hybrid model and do not require excessive placement. For the brand, this is an opportunity to optimize budgets and increase investments in effective placements, which will subsequently be correctly evaluated both online and offline. "

The robot began to select goods for Pyaterochek and Perekrestok

On October 23, 2019, it became known that the goods for the stores of Five the "" and Intersection"" chains began to be selected. robot The new algorithm is being introduced as part of digital transformation. retailer X5

According to RBC Chief Executive Officer of the Kh5 Igor Shekhterman, the company has created a decision-making model based on advanced analytics using big data and machine learning. The data that is included in the program is based on surveys and checks of buyers who are in the loyalty program. They provide an understanding of the needs, the task of the algorithm to determine which product is most in demand and should be on the shelf.

Thanks to the new technology, about 28 categories (coffee and tea, canned food, vegetables, cheeses, beer and vodka, etc.) in Pyaterochka were revised, which account for about 50% of the turnover. The system independently understands what the buyer needs and remembers it, and in the future its use will allow you to further personalize the assortment in retail outlets.

For example, when coming to the store for pasta, the consumer must make several decisions - shells or spaghetti, 50 rubles or 100 rubles. For the algorithm, all these solutions are a "tree," and on the basis of many "trees" it works, - said Igor Shekhterman.

He also said in an interview that Russians began to pay less attention to prices in grocery stores, but are more demanding of convenience.

According to Shechterman, in 2012 the value of the price was 60%, and by October 2019 - 53%. The representative of the retailer predicted that in four years this figure will decrease by 50%. At the same time, Shechterman pointed to an increase in the convenience factor, which he said would grow to 45% by 2023^[4]

Introduction of video analytics in supermarkets in Moscow and the Moscow region

On September 30, 2019, X5 Group announced to TAdviser the launch of a pilot for video analytics of shelves and areas of fruits and vegetables in its retail chains. Read more here.

Pilot project for equipping 7 Pyaterochka stores in Dolgoprudny with electronic price tags

On September 2, 2019, the company X5 Group announced the launch of a pilot project to equip stores with electronic price tags. " Five Modern technologies will eliminate the likelihood of non-compliance of the specified prices for the goods and increase the NPS ("satisfaction") of buyers.

At this stage, only Pyaterochki located in the city of Dolgoprudny participate in the pilot. Seven stores are equipped with 58 thousand electronic price tags, which cover almost 100% of the assortment (with the exception of isolated cases of promotional products located not on the store shelves).

The basis of the "digital" price tags is electronic paper, acting as a display of the device, with three color inks - white, black and red (for holding promotions). The data is updated automatically without the participation of the store staff - the price and information about the product changes online using a radio channel. The introduced price tags are low in power consumption and can work for 5 years without replacing the battery. Electronic device software is built into the store's current architectural IT solution, allowing you to fully update your data in just a few minutes.

The introduction of the electronic price tag system is a promising area of ​ ​ digitalization of retail and the development of shopping experience and loyalty. Automating the process allows you to optimize work and free up several hours of work for each employee to interact with customers and solve other tasks. This technology also leads to a decrease in the cost of printing paper price tags and a reduction in losses due to incorrect information on them.

Kh5 already uses more than 65 thousand electronic price tags in three large-format supermarkets Intersection located in St. Petersburg, Old Oskole and. To Moscow By the end of 2019, the Kh5 will consider the possibility of introducing electronic price tags in 15 more Pyaterochka stores and 10 Perekrestok supermarkets. Based on the results of the pilot and the refinement of the economic model of the project, a decision will be made to deploy the project to a larger number of Kh5 chain stores.

Expanded pilot of smart store technology in the Pyaterochka network

On August 7, 2019, X5 Group announced that the Pyaterochka retail chain is launching an expanded pilot of smart store technology, which is expected to reduce power consumption in retail outlets by 4.9%. Read more here.

Opening of Robotization Laboratory

In July 2019, X5 Group opened a robotization laboratory and conducted the first wave of process screening. The new working group, consisting of the Kh5 Information Technology Department, retail chain design offices and the Innovation Department, will Kh5 focus on the tasks of software robotization of routine processes, the company said.

The laboratory's tasks are to identify and digitize those "analog" processes where robotization in a short time can bring the maximum economic effect, up to their complete automation at the next, larger stages of projects.

In 2019, the laboratory will focus on processes in the field of commerce, finance, HR, IT support, in transport and logistics, as well as in other retail-specific business processes. The savings in labor costs in robotic business processes following the results of these projects, according to preliminary estimates of X5, should range from 20% to 70%.

In 2017-2018, Kh5 conducted pilots in the field of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). For example, robots participated in financial processes, recruiting, launching promotions and special offers. We also launched one of the processes, combining RPA and machine learning technologies, - said Alla Antonova, Acting Director of Information Technology X5.

As a result of the pilots, it was decided to allocate the laboratory to a separate innovative Kh5 project. Based on a systematic analysis of routine processes, pipeline projects for launching robots and a screening methodology were formed, which will be applied in subsequent cycles.

Robotization will help reduce labor costs in dozens of business processes and increase labor productivity. With the help of robots, X5 units expect to save about 400 thousand man-hours per year. The economic effect in two years may amount to more than 150 million rubles, - said Ivan Melnik, director of innovation at the Kh5.

In 2019, new technologies will be used, in particular, to robotize and speed up the entry of data into corporate systems, control of traffic, processing standard user requests for technical support, accounting for sick leave, communication with suppliers of goods.

Platform for delivery of parcels from online stores

On April 26, 2019, it became known that X5 Group, a Russian multi-format retail company, has developed a digital platform for delivering parcels from online stores to checkpoints and pick-up points. The solution unites part of the checkpoints in Pyaterochka stores, equipment of sorting centers and warehouses using a number of information systems, and the capacities of information systems, according to the company, are designed to process 1 million shipments per day.

The platform is based on a solution for accounting for shipments from online stores, a system for exchanging data with process participants, a warehouse system for sorting processes, interfaces for partners and users. The architecture of the main elements of the system is based on microservices, so its functionality can be quickly developed.

Any Russian and foreign online stores and Marketplaces that are mainly engaged in non-food products can connect to the platform. Kh5 offers partners from Russia to deliver parcels to the distribution centers of the company, from abroad departures will be accepted at customs. Thus, Kh5 will help Internet retailers solve the problem of the "last mile" throughout the territory of presence.

As of April 26, 2019, the platform is operating in test mode: orders are delivered to customers in and at Moscow Kaluzhskaya Smolensk region the checkpoints of the Central Bank, the joint venture Sovcombank and X5 Omni. Four more partners of the Kh5 from Russia and one of them are preparing to connect. China

In 2019, access to the system will be open for online stores and marketplaces of any profile, a "Developer Portal" will be created for partners to simplify the procedure for connecting to the system. In addition to issuing orders at checkpoints and points of issue, X5 partners will be able to offer customers delivery to store checkouts^[1].

Development and implementation of ASUM

On April 18, 2019, it became known that Open Technologies developed and implemented the Automated Capacity Management System (ASUM) for the X5 Group. Read more here.

X5 saved 300 million rubles by introducing IT capacity management methodology

Natalia Kim, Head of IT Infrastructure Solutions at Kh5 Retail Group, at the TAdviser conference "Optimization of IT Infrastructure 2019," held on March 27, spoke about the two-year project of introducing an IT capacity management methodology with a predictive analytics scenario - Capacity management.

The speaker recalled that Kh5 Retail Group is the largest Russian retailer that owns the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel retail chains, and briefly spoke about the company's IT division. It employs more than 1,300 specialists. Kh5 Retail Group's IT infrastructure includes four data centers, more than 300 systems, 823 physical servers, and 1,181 databases.

Retail is a continuous transformation of the business, as the needs of customers are constantly changing, Natalia Kim emphasized. The customer loyalty index should remain at. The cornerstone of the business is improving efficiency and reducing costs, and the IT infrastructure is its platform. The speaker listed the problems that existed in the company before the implementation of the capacity management project:

• the actual utilization of capacity is unknown;
• control of the purchased capacity utilization was carried out randomly;
• The forecast of capacity growth was made manually based on trends.

Two years ago, after studying the world experience in the field of Capacity management, the company began to introduce capacity management processes and it turned out that this is the best way to solve problems, stated Natalia Kim. The sequence of steps was as follows:

• design of the process, formation of regulations;
• development of modeling methodology - how to calculate how much hardware will be required next year;
• introduction of systems for monitoring virtual, physical infrastructures, as well as monitoring the infrastructure of trading facilities;
• resource optimization - reallocation, optimization; storage systems
• Automation for virtual environments-Implement project analytics, configure, integrate with configuration management (CMDB), and automatically calculate capacity.

The project team included specialists in databases, DSS, servers and OS. There were only five real permanent participants, but there were also external contractors, one of whom helped write the regulations. At the same time, the speaker stressed that the internal team brought the greatest value to the project.

Initially, the methodology was introduced in the "manual" mode. The Kh5 technical team, together with a partner, has developed a mathematical data model that compares data on equipment load in the past with plans for the development of Kh5 divisions. Taking into account many additional parameters, such as seasonality, the number of stores, checks, the model can predict the date by which the reserve of IT capacity of each specific IT system will end. Based on these calculations, technical experts Kh5 draw up an IT capacity plan for the year ahead with a flexible schedule for purchasing equipment.

After the introduction, we saw that some systems were overloaded, others were underloaded, after which we were able to redistribute and optimize the load, "Natalya Kim summed up the project. - This year we want to see after which releases there are bursts.

Now the company's capacity management process is supported by a whole range of IT solutions: predictive analytics, a single Configuration Management Data Base (CMDB) database, and several IT infrastructure monitoring solutions.

In 2018-2019, as a result of the implementation of measures to automate the methodology and optimize the IT infrastructure, the company reduced equipment costs by 300 million rubles, the speaker noted.

Robotization of intraday payment reconciliation

On March 27, 2019, X5 Group announced that it had launched a robotic intraday reconciliation of payments together with Alfa-Bank. The robotic process allows you to quickly determine all possible errors and inconsistencies in the details and amounts of payments.

Every day, on the side of Alfa-Bank, the software robot generates reports on all payments received by X5 Retail Group companies in the banking system and sends them directly to the client's ERP system. Then, on the X5 side, the reports are automatically checked against the documents sent and signed by the system in four parameters.

The project of robotization of reconciliation of payments with X5 Retail Group is a landmark precedent for the industry to robotize processes outside the bank's perimeter, "said Pavel Ryazanov, director of Alfa-Bank's transaction business. - Alfa-Bank offers a service that allows you to optimize the treasury functions of the client company.

Considering that the number of payments made Kh5 Retail Group through all partner banks exceeds 30 thousand per day and continues to grow, such a mechanism of additional verification and protection is extremely important, "said Natalya Vlasova, head of the treasury department of Kh5 Retail Group. - Intraday reconciliation allows you to promptly confirm the receipt of payments sent by the group by the bank for their subsequent execution, as well as promptly respond in case of unforeseen circumstances.

As of March 2019, about 30 processes have already been robotized. By increasing productivity and reducing the number of errors, the bank saves 85 million rubles. per year.

Crossroads and Carousel to test staff training with VR technology in 100 supermarkets

February 21, 2019 X5 announced that the retail chains "" and Intersection"Carousel" will test personnel training using technology virtual reality (). VR

The pilot will be held in 100 Perekrestok supermarkets and three Karusel hypermarkets in Moscow and the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Sochi, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Perm and other cities. Following the results of three months, a decision will be made on the possible scaling of the technology.

VR courses will train sales consultants who work with six categories of goods: meat, fish, cheeses, cooking, sausages, dairy products. During individual classes using Oculus Go VR glasses, an employee goes through a simulation of communication with a buyer behind the counter.

Each training module consists of three stages. On the first, you need to accurately repeat the script for communicating with the buyer using system prompts. On the second, play the same dialogue using keywords. On the third - to help the buyer choose the product using the acquired skills and without system prompts.

Thus, the staff develops stable skills of effective communication with the buyer and good knowledge of the product.

2018

Development of digital services for pensioners together with the FIU

On December 11, 2018 X5 Group , he announced that, together Pension Fund of the Russian Federation with, they began cooperation in the development and implementation of technology that will allow pensioners and persons of pre-retirement age to receive discounts in stores of retail chains "," Five"" and Intersection"Carousel."

In 2019, on the basis of the mobile application FIU using Kh5 information systems, it is planned to launch a pilot project - a digital social card containing information about the status of a citizen and the social benefits he is entitled to in the form of a unique one. QR code Reading the code from the screen smartphone will determine the right of a pensioner or person of pre-retirement age to benefits, discounts and other forms of social support provided by state commercial organizations.

X5, as a socially responsible business, has been providing discounts to older buyers for several years. In Pyaterochka, in the morning, pensioners are given a 5% discount, and on Mondays - 10%. Perekrestok supermarkets offer a 10% discount from 9.00 to 13.00 on weekdays, and Karusel hypermarkets provide a 5% discount from the moment the store opens until 13.00. Since the beginning of 2018, older customers have made purchases in stores Kh5 more than 406 million times. The total amount of discount for pensioners in Kh5 stores amounted to 9.9 billion rubles.

X5 will apply machine learning in marketing

On November 19, 2018, X5 Group, a multi-format retail company in Russia, completed a pilot project on Reinforcement Learning (RL) technology, one of the approaches to machine learning.

During the project, analysts and IT specialists of the Pyaterochka trading network and Glowbyte Consulting developed a solution for customizing shares and special offers using RL. The system automatically selects offers that are most relevant for buyers based on impersonal data on past promotions.

The audience of the pilot was two million Pyaterochka buyers who participate in the loyalty program of the retail chain. All customers were divided into 27 groups based on their purchase history. The system analyzed how target groups of customers respond to the promotion, how the sales volume changes and how profitable the special offer is. That offer was then received by a wider audience.

As a result of the pilot, the project team identified Pyaterochka's most profitable stock and communications mechanics. The marginality of individual sentences was twice the average before the automation of this function.

For us, digital interaction with the buyer is extremely important, since we want not only to respond to his requests, but also to get ahead of them. Therefore, personalizing the approach to each client among the priority areas of development of the retail network, and the Reinforcement learning technology is one of the important tools for implementing this task. We appreciate the results of the pilot project in the field of machine learning and do not plan to stop there. In the near future, Pyaterochka buyers will have many more unique offers that will be based on a deep understanding of their needs and interests, "said Alexandra Kalyukina, director of the marketing department of the Pyaterochka retail chain.

X5 Retail Group builds up army of Big Data and Data Science experts

In 2018, X5 Group began to actively develop the direction of big data and Data Science, and in less than a year gathered a team of more than 100 people for this. This was announced in October 2018 by Andrey Molchansky, Director of the Department for Development and Support of Big Data Products at X5 Group.

As part of the big data division, created in the fall of 2017, the Data Science team was also allocated, where as of October there are more than 20 experts on analytical data (data scientists). They are divided into product areas, which the company expects to improve.

A lot of other specialists work around the Data Science group: business analysts, delivery managers, architects, developers and others. They are allocated to separate product teams, which are decentralized in the management of big data X5 Retail Group. The meaning of such a division is that each person is aimed at improving the business, says Molchansky. And the main benefit of the team's work should be expressed in financial terms.

At the same time, the Agile culture is introduced in the teams. This made it possible to ensure a time from the emergence of an idea to the creation of a prototype in 3 weeks, a company representative says.

Data Science is already used in the company, for example, to improve the loyalty program and create targeted offers for buyers. By the fall, the company had conducted two pilot projects and testing in this area, and due to this, it raised customer traffic by 4% in target stores, Molchansky says.

He added that the big data division and Data Science are new in the company, they are less than a year old, so it is too early to report on the identification of some "wow patterns." The data still continues to be collected. At the same time, the further development of the direction has wide prospects. Data Science teaches the retailer knowledge about the client, about the store and the product, says Andrey Molchansky. The more knowledge a company gets about it, the more value it can gain.

Knowledge of the article can be used primarily to optimize the assortment. For example, if there is too much of a type of product on the shelf, the buyer, having stood at the shelf for some time and finding it difficult to make a choice, may not buy it, explains a representative of X5 Retail Group. Data Science allows the retailer to understand how many brands to put on shelves in different stores to ensure their maximum sales.

Data Science can also be used for dynamic pricing, allowing you to set the optimal price for goods taking into account their remaining shelf life, Molchansky explains. An item with an expiration date coming to an end is more profitable to sell at a discount so that it ultimately does not disappear.

Data Science technologies are also used to predict demand. Based on the purchases of a large number of customers, the analysis of their checks, you can quite accurately predict in what period how much goods to order. This system can be delivered for training by fully automating the ordering system.

At the store level, Data Science can be used, for example, for geoanalytics, to receive recommendations for opening new stores exactly where they are most needed.

The existing big data platforms in X5 Retail Group machine learning are based on ON. open source For example, the software and. Hadoop Hortonworks The operational analytics systems required by the management of the company and stores, while working on. SAP HANA

Opening a lab store for rapid technical testing

On October 10, 2018, X5 Retail Group announced the opening of a laboratory store for rapid technical testing and R&D of modern technology.

The laboratory is located in the Central Administrative District of Moscow in the same building as the Pyaterochka store.

author '= Fabricio Granja, CIO of X5 Retail Group ' Finding technical solutions quickly and efficiently is a task for which we have created a laboratory store. It is equipped with everything necessary so that employees can quickly "put" innovations on the shelf on the trading floor. Within the framework of the existing store, we not only check the compatibility of the technology with the Kh5 IT infrastructure, but also assess the customer experience.

As of October 2018, laboratory employees are testing technologies for electronic price tags, video analysts smart shelves, digital signage scannings and self-purchase and payment scenarios on the sales floor.

After testing in a laboratory store, technologies will be piloted in Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel stores. At this stage, experts will Kh5 assess their cost-effectiveness, for example, the impact on increasing sales or reducing costs. Depending on the results, decisions will be made on replication to all stores in retail chains.

In Kh5, more than 500 startups are at the stage of assessment and preliminary development. Most technologies require performance and compatibility checks with the Kh5 IT landscape. On the one hand, in the laboratory store, all ideas can now be quickly tested, on the other hand, we will be able to increase the number of experiments and "speed up" the funnel of innovations in general.

IT Service Continuity Project

September 19, 2018 it became known that X5 Group began a project on the continuity of IT services. This concept implies the constant availability of basic information systems in retail chains and back office, fault tolerance of IT infrastructure, minimal downtime of IT systems, readiness for rapid recovery in case of emergencies.

As a result of the project carried out jointly with Jet Infosystems, X5 Retail Group adopted a roadmap within which the company implements a strategy for the development of continuity of IT services. This took into account the growth plans of X5 Retail Group and the forecast of how the company's need for IT services will increase.

Options "replenishment plan" and "product availability check"

On September 18, 2018, X5 Group announced that it had added the next tools on the Clickserviceretail.ru portal, allowing suppliers to more accurately predict production and supplies.

According to the company, this was due to the update of the internal planning system X5 and its integration with the Click Service Retail solution, which already provides suppliers with online services, including those that help predict production and deliveries 60 days in advance.

As reported, two options Clickserviceretail.ru available to users: a replenishment plan and checking the availability of products. In this way, the supplier can plan the delivery to Carousel and Crossroads based on the draft order. It is created automatically based on the replenishment plan created in the internal planning system X5. Also on the Clickserviceretail.ru, Crossroads suppliers can check the availability and balance of their goods in a particular store in real time.

Since June 2018, six X5 vendors have tested the features. As of September 2018, this analytics is available to 64 companies. In the future, all partners of X5 retail chains will be able to predict online deliveries, and data on product turnover will be updated once a day.

Testing "Help-cash desk" in the network "Pyaterochka"

X5 Group on June 26, 2018 announced that the Pyaterochka retail chain had begun testing Vyruchay-cash registers, devices for self-payment of goods. Such cash desks provide voice support for the purchase, which is designed to help pensioners understand the principle of equipment operation faster. For foreign buyers, the cash desk interface also includes English and Chinese.

The Vyruchay-cash desk interface is designed taking into account purchasing experience and the style of the retail network, which, according to the company, makes communication between users and this device simple and comfortable.

The first devices for self-payment of purchases have already been installed in two stores in Moscow. By the end of 2018, in 10 Pyaterochka supermarkets in Moscow, it is planned to create special zones for self-payment of goods, in each of which up to 6 such devices will be installed. A store employee will help customers pay for purchases at Vyruchay-cash desks. He will check documents when buying alcohol and cigarettes.

According to the expectations of X5 Retail Group, the installation of Vyruchay-cash desk in stores can help increase the number of constantly working cash desks in stores, reduce queues, especially during rush hours, and organize more active work of employees in trading floors. According to preliminary forecasts of the company, after testing using self-service checkouts, about 50% of purchases will be paid.

"Help the cash desk" accepts cash for payment, bank cards of all payment systems, points of various loyalty programs and coupons. The cash desk also allows you to accumulate and spend bonus points of the loyalty program "Help the card."

Testing of the project, according to X5 plans, will be completed in December 2018, by that time about 50 self-service cash desks will appear in 10 Pyaterochka stores in Moscow. Within the framework of the pilot, X5 experts will assess the performance and fault tolerance of the systems, determine effective mechanics for informing about marketing promotions, finally configure the voice interface and determine which payment methods will be most in demand among users of Vyruchay-cash desk.

Robotization at X5 Retail Group

X5 Retail Group, which includes the chains of stores Five"" and Intersection"," conducted robotization of its service center. During the robotization, six robots were launched to work with documents. Now these works are carried out by a total of seven processes of the service center, which were previously carried out by human employees using the basic information systems of the company^[2].

As of the end of 2017, the X5 service center, which is located in Nizhny Novgorod, worked in 63 regions and had up to 1,000 employees. The annual document flow of the center, including EDI, exceeds 100 million documents. The center serves the X5 staff, consisting of 250 thousand employees, as well as 5 thousand suppliers.

Recall that X5 Retail Group owns the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel store chains. As of March 2018, the group owned 12.7 thousand stores. Net retail revenue in 2017 amounted to 1.29 billion rubles, and in the first quarter of 2018 - 350 billion rubles.

Where to bring people

As specified in X5 at the request of CNews, robotization did not lead to a reduction in personnel - rather, it was carried out to prevent the recruitment of additional workers. Those employees who used to work instead of robots were reoriented to new tasks, more complex, managerial and creative, the company assures. We are talking about a small number of employees who were engaged in the manual processing of the same type of accounting documents, explained Yulia Burenkova, chief accountant of X5 Retail Group.

At the same time, the company is aware that by 2025 global robotization will reduce office staff costs by 40-70% and relieve 120 million specialists from their duties.

IT Competence Center in Innopolis

On May 24, 2018, X5 Retail Group announced the start of cooperation with the Republic of Tatarstan in the innovative and technological spheres. The corresponding agreement was signed by the Minister of Informatization and Communications of the Republic of Tatarstan Roman Shaikhutdinov and the Chief Financial Officer of X5 Retail Group Svetlana Demyashkevich at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The parties agreed to develop the innovative and socio-economic infrastructure of the Republic of Tatarstan in the retail sector, trade as well as work on strengthening import substitution and developing Russian ones. information technology

The agreement provides for the creation on the territory of the Innopolis special economic zone of the X5 Retail Group IT Competence Center. To do this, the X5 Retail Group will be assigned the partner status of the SEZ Innopolis. The competence center will develop innovative products for automation and robotization of processes in retail trade, testing modern technologies, products and services created in the Innopolis special economic zone.

"The creation of an IT Competence Center based on Innopolis University will strengthen and enrich our internal IT team with new knowledge. The experience of colleagues from the centers for the development of robotics, modeling and analysis of big data, as well as the center of geoinformation systems of Innopolis University will allow us to increase expertise and ensure a higher quality of the solutions being implemented. Of course, the next step is to build specialized product teams, since Innopolis has all the conditions for the development of innovations and new technologies, "added Fabricio Granja, CIO of X5 Retail Group.

Also, under the terms of the X5 Retail Group agreement, together with Innopolis University, they plan to conduct research projects and train IT specialists, organize IT Olympiads for schoolchildren, create educational programs for students and employ the best IT specialists in X5.

"Innopolis University graduates IT specialists to work in the real sector of the economy and implements projects at the intersection of education, science and business together with one hundred and thirty partners. Cooperation with X5 Retail Group, the largest player in the retail market, will allow us to better understand the tasks of leading Russian companies, develop effective digital solutions, promote the introduction of the latest technologies into everyday processes and prepare the most popular personnel in the industry, "said Semenikhin Kirill, Director of Innopolis University.

About Mobile Development in X5

X5 develops mobile applications for internal business processes, including in the field of logistics and division interaction. The focus is justified: the company employs more than 250,000 employees, and their number will increase - opening an average of 8 stores per day, X5 Retail Group is growing at 20-30% per year (today the number of stores has already exceeded 12,000).

However, mobile applications for retailer customers acquire no less value, including in the context of digitalization, they are turning into one of the key channels of communication with customers.

As a result, it is mobile applications that take on the functionality of interacting with loyal customers of Kh5 retail chains, offering the latter the most personalized format of the dialogue, including by providing each user with unique offers based on his purchasing experience.

Online Loyalty

Of course, we are not talking exclusively about communication support - mobile applications are the basic component of X5 Retail Group loyalty programs. The first one started more than 10 years ago for the Perekrestok network, having received a mobile application in 2016. And since 2017, they have been used by clients of the Pyaterochka and Karusel networks.

Loyalty applications, unlike plastic cards, have expanded the user's capabilities. For example, you can use them to maintain a shopping list, receive personal offers, discounts, and track the status of a bonus account.

This approach has become a serious challenge for Kh5 IT systems: hundreds of transactions per second are carried out for tens of millions of customers, with the processing of thousands of promotional rules, turning the purchase into a complex multi-stage process.

Beat the queues

The launch of the eco-system of mobile loyalty applications turned into an unexpected call for X5, namely, an increase in service time at cash desks in case of emergencies in IT systems. The delays were the result of the existing IT architecture, within which a single loyalty processing system operates, which means that the client's request in the mobile application is processed by the same system that works at the cash desks.

The X5 Retail Group coped with the situation - first of all, inside the loyalty processing, they divided the logic and resources between the work of cash registers and the mobile application. The increased load on processing was also given by push and sms-mailings, which provoked users to open applications. Today, the company more accurately structures the time when notifications are sent to customers. Also, within the IT circuit of the company, a system of operational communications has been launched, including on the basis of instant messengers, which also allows you to respond as quickly as possible to new challenges.

But they refused to create independent loyalty processing loops for cash registers and for a mobile application here - due to the too high cost. Modern IT practices help to quickly respond to the needs of the IT system - we are talking about a microservice architecture that allows you to quickly respond to peak loads on loyalty processing, making it possible to speed up the work of mobile applications and reduce their impact on cash registers.

The company also began to implement DevOps practices, repurposing teams at the expense of people from different departments and departments, betting on fast IT development. In just a month, the company clarifies, the IT department on average presents more than 200 changes related in one way or another to portals or mobile X5 applications.

As a result, X5 Retail Group customers can safely forget about delays in the work of mobile loyalty applications, and even more so about the expectations they caused at the box office. Cash registers today will continue to serve buyers even in case of an emergency failure in the loyalty processing and a forced reboot of the IT system (the process will take no more than 15 minutes). And it takes no more than 1-2 minutes to solve the problem of peak loads on loyalty processing.

To all X5 Retail Group customers, the company's flexible IT architecture allows you to shop in stores in a calm mode, without wasting time and with maximum convenience (in total, more than 3.8 billion purchases were made in X5 stores in 2017, i.e. immediately a quarter more than a year earlier). And the ability to receive personal offers and discounts on an ongoing basis, provided for users of mobile applications, leads to an increase in the audience. Thus, according to the results of 2017, more than 2 million customers have already used X5 Retail Group client mobile applications.

X5 will test three types of innovative quality control product labeling

X5 Retail Group, one of the leading multi-format retail companies, will test three unique technologies at once with innovative labeling on products that blocks the sale of expired goods and records temperature violations during storage and transportation.

In particular, X5, together with several suppliers, launched a pilot project in which it implements products of the fresh and ultra-fresh categories with EAN 13 + 5 barcodes containing information on the shelf life of the product. This prevents the sale of expired products, which at the checkout is identified as a marriage. The technology is currently being tested in 200 Pyaterochka stores in Moscow and the Moscow region.

In the near future, X5 will begin piloting a new technology for rejecting stale goods using thermoactive tags. Chameleon tags will help customers and store employees establish whether the temperature regime was observed during transportation and storage of products. This technology is especially relevant for the quality control of frozen products, in the event of defrosting of which the label will change color and will no longer return the original one when re-frozen. This technology was developed by students of Tomsk State University (TSU), which since 2016 has been a partner of X5. Testing thermoactive tags has become a new stage in the interaction of the retailer and the university in the field of technology development.

Thanks to another X5 pilot project, buyers will also be able to control the actual remaining shelf life using chameleon tags. In case of improper storage, the shelf life of the product may decrease, and in order to track the current state of the product, some X5 suppliers will apply special labels to their products, which under different temperature conditions change their color at different speeds. So, for example, at a temperature of + 4 ° C, the chameleon mark will completely darken in 6 days, and at a temperature of + 6 ° C - in 4.5 days. With the help of such tags, buyers will be able to receive reliable information about the quality and safety of products, and the retailer's employees will be able to quickly update the goods in trading floors and eliminate violations of product storage conditions throughout the supply chain.

X5 aims to offer customers only safe products and control the quality of goods along the entire chain of their movement - from the manufacturer to the cash register of the retail store. End-to-end quality control of goods using technology is not possible without the participation of suppliers and manufacturers, so X5 welcomes and considers various technological initiatives of food producers aimed at strengthening and automating quality control.

Pyaterochka and Perekrestok have created a special directorate for analyzing big data

The Kh5 Retail Group has a directorate of "big data" - a separate division that will analyze Big Data. Anton Mironenkov was appointed the head of the division, who previously held the position of strategy director in the company, in which he will now be replaced by Sergei Goncharov. Mironenkov announced the creation of a new directorate during a speech at the Food Business Russia forum, reports Interfax^[3].

According to Mironenkov, big data is the strategic direction on which the future of retail depends. Retailers should learn how to monetize Big Data as soon as possible and use them to optimize workflows and improve customer convenience. In this regard, the analysis of the "big data," which the retailer accumulates daily in considerable volumes, was allocated in a separate direction.

As a representative of X5 Retail Group explained at the request of CNews, the company considers big data management "as a tool to increase sales and profitability of the main business through better customer knowledge, as well as as as a source of new revenues through data monetization."

Dobryakov Sergey, Director of the Department of Big Data Products and Analytics of the Pyaterochka Trading Network, spoke about technological trends in retail and X5:

• Mobile technologies will penetrate into all spheres of people's lives more and more. Given this, we have big plans to develop the functionality of the mobile application. At the same time, for us, the "number one client interface" is still the store. Therefore, our task is to make a convenient and pleasant user experience in which we would attract our conservative audience to offline purchases using a mobile application.
• One of the main trends is the use of big data to improve their value proposition for customers based on understanding their real need, that is, due to better knowledge of customers, their characteristics, preferences, tastes and habits. As the grocery retail market continues to develop and competition intensifies, the quality of traditional processes will depend further on the efficiency of information use. Big data technologies, already in demand in many industries, show almost the best result in the field of trading in fast consumption goods (FMCG).
• Personalization of offers will consist not only in the development of loyalty and special marketing offers based on needs, but also more globally - in the transition to the opening of outlets according to the "role model": this is a deeper individualization of the entire assortment and individual goods, services and services for each buyer, taking into account their purchasing missions.
• Cooperation and partnership between offline and online players is one of the important trends today and in the future, and offline retailers will actively participate in this.

2011: The plan, together with A. Chubais, to launch the "Store of the Future"

On April 21, 2011, it became known that Anatoly Chubais's ambitious project to build a network of stores equipped with RFID tags in Russia faced an unexpected problem. The planned supplier of the technological solution - "Sitronics" came out of the project. Nevertheless, Rusnano and the X5 holding promise to implement^[4] project^[4]

The president of the company Sergey Aslanyan spoke about the withdrawal of "Sitronics" from the project "Store of the Future." According to him, such a decision has a number of reasons, including the company was not satisfied with one of the partners in the implementation of the project. "This partner is not Rusnano," Aslanyan said. "We offered to change him, but Rusnano refused."

"The most time-consuming phase of the buyer's stay in the store - the calculation at the checkout - will take place virtually instantly, because each product will be marked with a nano-mark, and when the trolley passes the reader, the price will be automatically determined," promised Mikhail Fridman, chairman of the supervisory board of Alfa Group (the main shareholder of X5). The first pilot "store of the future" should be created by the end of 2012, according to Chubais forecasts, the development of a network of such stores could create in Russia a demand for RFID tags of 50 billion units per year.

A source familiar with the details of the project explained to CNews that Sitronics considered the risks of participating in this project too high for itself. "X5 demanded that Sitronics develop a technological solution, provide a guarantee of low prices for RFID tags and, in addition, the X5 lacks the necessary infrastructure," says the source of CNews. "And this in the absence of guaranteed demand, which is caused by a number of technological problems, in particular, information with RFID cannot be read through aluminum cans, liquid containers, etc."

Rusnano, in turn, assures that the project is developing according to plan and all partners involved in it are working according to an agreed schedule. "Since this project is quite unique, it is natural that the parties are trying to maintain a balance of risks and interests during the negotiations," the press service of the state corporation said. "Recently, from the shareholders of Sitronics, apparently, in connection with its reorganization, we received a proposal to change the technological partner from Sitronics to Micron (a microelectronic plant owned by Sitronics - approx. CNews), and this proposal was accepted by us."

The representative of the X5 holding Svetlana Vitkovskaya does not comment on the issue of relations with Sitronics, but also promises that the project will be completed on time and "all necessary measures are being taken for this." The discussion of the project "Store of the Future" was indeed at the level of "Micron," says Irina Lanina, vice president of "Sitronics," but no specific agreements were made.

IT projects at X5 Group

IT projects in the Perekrestok network

{{# ITProj: Intersection Trading House}}

Information technology in the Crossroads network

Main article: Information technologies in the Crossroads network

IT projects at Pyaterochka

{{# ITProj: Pyaterochka Federal Trade Network}}

IT projects in Spar

{{# ITProj: Spar (SPAR Retail)}}

See also

Online business chain of stores Perekrestok

Notes