During the NRF BIG Show, Microsoft revealed how it has helped GameStop, Hardee’s and TGI Friday’s improve the customer experience.
GameStop is leveraging the Microsoft Azure cloud platform to stream video game and promotional content directly to shopper and store associate mobile devices. The GameStop team displayed the technology at the Microsoft booth on the EXPO floor.
GameStop’s store associates can use their mobile devices to access information on individual customers who have opted in to receive and share information as part of the GameStop Technology Institute app. Features within the app empower associates to provide personalized shopping experiences based on the unique shopping history of each customer.
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Hardee’s And TGI Friday’s Transform The Ordering Experience
At the convention, Microsoft also showcased the Dell Optiplex 3030 All-in-One with Windows 8, a self-order kiosk solution that is currently being deployed in 30 Hardee’s restaurants nationwide. Hardee’s will continue to roll out kiosks to additional restaurants over the next few months.
The kiosks will tout a variety of features including:
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Point of sale capabilities that allow customers to review menu selections, customize and place orders, and pay for orders;
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Order entry and menu management, so orders are relayed directly to the kitchen in real time. Employees can update the kiosk menus to include seasonal offerings or price adjustments, or to add language capabilities to suit the location’s target customer base; and
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Reporting and personnel management, so managers can run various sales and shift reports. Employees also can use the kiosks to clock in and out for shifts and breaks.
“Our target market of young, hungry millennials, as well as younger and older customers, love the new ordering kiosks,” said Tom Lindblom, SVP and Chief Technology Officer at CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Hardee’s. “The self-ordering kiosk gives the customer a fun, interactive and user-friendly way to control their order. At CKE, we understand that customer expectations are changing quickly, and our relationship with Microsoft allows us to enhance the restaurant experience and better serve our customers’ needs and expectations.”
One out of every three customers at the Nashville location are using the kiosks, and the kiosks have generated increased sales and more efficient work streams, according to CKE Restaurants.
Microsoft also is providing eight-inch tablets to servers in TGI Friday’s locations across six cities in Texas and Minnesota. The chain will deploy up to 2,000 tablets in 80 additional restaurants by March 2015.
Using the new Friday’s Service Style technology, servers can carry the tablets around the restaurant to take orders and respond promptly to guest requests. The devices use Windows 8.1, running Oracle’s MICROS Restaurant Enterprise Solution (RES) 5.4 on the Dell Venue mTablet E-Series mPOS devices.
Oracle’s MICROS RES 5.4 allows TGI Friday’s to manage multiple aspects of restaurant management, from tableside ordering to traffic and queue management. The technology is designed to preserve the experience that Friday’s employees can offer to guests, rather than using tabletop technology that would reduce their interactions. The technology also is expected to reduce wait times and regulate the pace of orders sent to the kitchen.
