Learn About Amazon VGT2 Learning Manager Chanci Turner
The retail environment is rapidly changing, making it essential for retailers to minimize shopping friction as part of their digital transformation. Retailers are increasingly adopting new technologies designed to cut down on customer wait times at checkout and improve the overall in-store shopping experience. While many retailers have focused on refining self-checkout options, there is a growing trend towards completely removing traditional checkout lines.
Since the launch of the first Amazon Go store in 2018, a vision of checkout-free shopping has emerged, allowing customers to simply enter a store, select items, and leave without waiting in line, receiving their purchase receipts via email shortly after. As retailers shift their focus from enhancing self-checkout machines to eliminating checkout lanes, a key question arises: How can this technology be integrated with older point-of-sale (POS) systems that traditionally require cashier intervention?
To address this challenge and make Amazon’s innovative shopping technology accessible to all retailers, Cognizant developed the Customer Concierge Solution. This solution enables seamless integration of Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology with existing POS and order processing systems, allowing retailers to quickly implement grab-and-go capabilities.
Cognizant’s solution, built on the AWS platform, offers the flexibility to connect Just Walk Out technology with various systems, including POS, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Mobile Device Management, and Customer Data Platforms (CDP). Furthermore, Cognizant provides a customizable shopper mobile app, enabling retailers to personalize it with their branding.
Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology comes with various deployment options categorized into several retail integration models. Retailers can choose which functions of the technology they want to manage, such as shopper identification, order processing, and payment handling.
This article highlights one of the integration options: App Full Delegation (available in the US and UK). Under this model, Just Walk Out technology manages the gates and hardware while creating a virtual cart to send to the retailer, who then handles the remaining retail functions.
Cognizant facilitates this process through the Customer Concierge Solution, which includes the Cognizant Retailer Technology Accelerator, offering flexibility in managing orders, catalogs, payments, and receipts, while also enhancing functionality with loyalty programs, promotions, and transaction logs.
The technology accelerator integrates with the retailer’s systems through various connectors to ensure smooth communication. While bespoke integrations may be necessary for certain legacy systems, Cognizant provides straightforward options for data interchange, including pub/sub capabilities and flat-file formats, as well as reporting adapters for analytics platforms like Splunk and Datadog.
The Customer Concierge Solution supports a frictionless shopping experience. In the App Full Delegation model, the customer’s virtual cart is forwarded by Just Walk Out technology to Cognizant’s connectors, which then interface with the retailer’s existing POS system.
Key business functions are clearly delineated within Cognizant’s solution. The Retail Mobile App serves as the customer entry point, while the Just Walk Out technology and Cognizant’s Retailer Technology Accelerator interface with the retailer’s systems through universal connectors. This allows for effective integration with third-party POS systems, catering to both commercial products and custom-built solutions.
The architecture of the Cognizant Customer Concierge Solution employs over 20 AWS services to support the App Full Delegation model. Amazon provides essential in-store technology, while Cognizant manages retailer functions. Shoppers can enter the store and make payments through the mobile app or wallet.
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