Microsoft and Kroger provided a cloud platform for shops of the future

On January 17, 2019 the company Microsoft also American retailer Kroger announced start cloud of the platform for creation of digital shops. The basis of development was formed by the products Kroger Technology based on clouds Microsoft Azure. For January, 2019 pilot testing is already held in two shops of network, further the companies are going to offer it to other retailers on model a retail - as - service (RaaS).

Microsoft and Kroger consider that the intelligent system will provide a wide range of possibilities for buyers and personnel of retail stores. It will help to execute key performance indicators (KPI) and sales plans, to increase employees productivity and customer service quality, to optimize warehouse stocks and to provide the personalized consumer experience.

The cloud platform will include: the system of the digital price labels EDGE Shelf which in addition to the prices also display the additional information, such as actions, structure, dietary properties of products, etc.; the application Scan, Bag, Go for search and payment of goods in shop using the smartphone; the Virtual Store Manager system which, for example, can prompt to sellers if on an input carts ended; the system of sensors which, in particular, can notify on temperature increase in refrigerators; and also a connectivity to corporate systems, such as point-of-sale terminals, inventory management, goods marking and sales.

Information on the digital price labels EDGE Shelf is updated automatically thanks to sensors of Internet of Things and artificial intelligence technologies working in Microsoft Azure cloud. Thanks to integration into the application Scan, Bag, Go, the buyer can enter the list of purchases to the application and to see on price labels with the necessary products a mark in the form of the personal icon selected by it (for example, banana or pumpkin). Also this system optimizes time of employees who collect Internet orders. Besides, the video analytics helps them to fill up goods on shelves in time.