Smartphone Scanning Empowers Employees, Engages 1.6M+ Customers

To maintain its leadership position as Denmark’s largest grocery retailer, Coop launched a scanning-enabled mobile app – improving engagement by connecting 1.6m customers who seamlessly scan, and pay and go on their personal smartphones. It also replaced expensive hardware scanners with low-cost, Scandit-powered mobile apps on smart devices for employees, significantly scaling up store operations.

Even our staff love using the Scandit-powered smartphone apps that replace dedicated scanners and lower TCO without impacting scanning performance.

Simon Færch, Head of Digital Product Innovation and Digital, Coop Denmark.

Challenge

Coop Denmark is the largest grocery retailer in Denmark with 1,150 stores and 36,000 staff. Its aims are very clear:

• To boost operational efficiency.
• Continue to differentiate from the competition.
• Maintain their position as a leading retailer and responsible employer.
• Drive customer loyalty and engagement. 

Implementing fun-to-use consumer and employee mobile apps with first-rate scanning was integral to achieving these aims.

Give customers self-scanning shopping in a mobile app

Central to Coop’s customer engagement strategy was the launch of a mobile app featuring self-scanning. Scanning had to be ultra-fast and reliable with no first-time friction or mis-scans and work on all customers’ device types.

Add flexibility and speed to store operations

Coop Denmark identified an opportunity to boost efficiency and employee satisfaction by moving manual tasks like order picking, rescan, loyalty scanning and markdowns onto scanning-enabled mobile apps on smartphones. Giving employees a great user experience and a choice of devices capable of enterprise-grade scanning was essential to making life easier.

Solution

Coop Denmark’s Scan & Betal app allows customers to browse stores, scan products with their smartphones, add items to their basket, then pay directly in the app using a card or accrued loyalty bonuses. Other features like shopping lists, tracking loyalty points, recipes, personal discounts, and competitions, add more value for more customers.

Coop were laser-focused on customer experience: eliminating first-time friction and showing customers “what’s in it for me?” Customers simply enter the store, open the app on any camera-enabled device, shop by scanning barcodes and complete purchases on the spot with a digital receipt.

Impressed with the speed and accuracy of Scandit’s Barcode Scanner SDK, even in difficult conditions such as low lighting, in shadows and glare, at distances, angles, or with damaged barcodes, Coop appointed Scandit.

Integrating scanning in just four months from pilot to rollout

The Scandit-powered self-checkout app was successfully launched across 1,150 stores in Denmark and Greenland in 2019.

Coop deployed the Scandit-powered app to 2,000 employees on Samsung smartphones. The lower cost, compared to dedicated scanners, means more employees have devices, rather than having to share. Workers speed through tasks like mark down and in-store picking with the mobile app.

Results

Over 1.6 million downloads

1.6M

Up to 250,000 customers use the app daily, 55% retention rate

250K

App used on over 1,160 different device models, including iOS and Android

1,160

Faster store operations, lower costs and employees enjoy the app:

• Data captured is used by Coop to develop personalized offers, promotions and discounts.
• The app is equally popular with older as well as younger customers because they can see receipts and do budgeting within the app.
• No ‘shrinkage’ as a result of the self-scanning app.
• Employees complete tasks like order picking, price markdowns, scanning loyalty cards and checking inventory much quicker.
• Shelf management and automated price verification is done before the products even get to checkout – no need for manual corrections.
• Order picking of on-line orders is done in seconds.
• The number of active Scandit-powered devices used by employees tripled within the first year.

Coop is now testing how they can incorporate additional Scandit technology including Scandit’s MatrixScan and AR to make further workflow efficiencies like stock counting and item adjustment. The advanced functionality captures multiple barcodes with a single scan, then uses AR overlays to display real-time product or store information on device screens to deliver greater productivity and superior customer service.