Having proven itself as a partner with a deep understanding of the company’s strategy and strength in project implementation, Konica Minolta was chosen as a supplier of Wi-Fi for the retailer’s more than 1,100 stores. This Wi-Fi is the basis for profoundly transforming them into truly digital shops – making additional services for the customers possible while unburdening staff with tools, which enable them to better support the customers.

AT COOP, THE DIGITAL FUTURE HAS ALREADY BEGUN

Retail as we know it is changing profoundly – and Coop is boldly placing itself at the front of this transformation. With Coop’s ‘Beep ’n’ Go’ service, customers can already use their Coop app and scan their products as they put them in their shopping basket in selected shops.

So there is no need to wait in a queue at the checkout. The scanned products are simply picked out there. This saves a lot of time when shopping. Reliable and strong Wi-Fi connections are a prerequisite for this innovation.

But Coop is aiming to provide far more at its shops, ‘We want to set the staff free and give them tools they can use to help and provide advice to the customers. For example, customers who need help choosing the right wine, the best meat or want to know more about some local vegetables using their smartphones might be able to call a staff member who knows the most about, for example, wine,’ says Bjørn Langhorn Lundt.
 

„For us, it is crucial that our suppliers are strategic partners who can handle the challenges that naturally arise along the way during a major project in the spirit of partnership, and Konica Minolta is simply the right strategic partner for us.“

Bjørn Langhorn Lundt, Head of Procurement, Coop Technology

The goal of the company is not to reduce the need for staff in the shops. It wants to create increased value for the customers. Using digital tools, the employees should be provided with new opportunities, for training, for example, or for creating new, local products and marketing them to Coop customers.

The staff app is set to become the focal point of Coop’s digital dialogue and communication between employees and managers, locally and nationally.

To set up the wireless infrastructure needed to take this step towards shop digitalisation, Coop relies on Konica Minolta’s skilled network specialists and technicians.

MORE PARTNER THAN SERVICE PROVIDER

Konica Minolta had already established itself as a strong, trusted partner for Coop’s IT department. Konica Minolta has taken over the retailer’s IT service agreements and assists Coop’s inhouse support team with skilled consultants that truly understand the retailer’s installed NetApp system inside out – with its around 1,200 servers and a total capacity of 3.5 PB.

For Coop, it was of paramount importance that their new service and support partner could meet the retail Group’s uncompromising requirements for operational reliability, supervision and management. Working with Konica Minolta, Coop has gained a simpler service and support set-up, able to save them time, effort and expenses.


Coop also decided to implement the Wi-Fi project with its trusted partner Konica Minolta. ‘We chose Konica Minolta because they understood our strategy best and could describe a solution that lived up to our strategic goals. Subsequently, they have shown their strength during the implementation, and we only hear positive feedback about Konica Minolta’s technicians and consultants from Coop store managers and warehouse managers,’ explains Bjørn Langhorn Lundt with regard to this decision.

ALL FROM A SINGLE SOURCE: SET-UP, OPERATION AND MONITORING

The solution implemented in the shops is built on Cisco Meraki products. Konica Minolta has an extensive technical support department in Denmark with 100 employees, of which 70 are technicians who can make on-site visits. An additional 40 employees work in the company’s IT infrastructure department.

The system is installed by Konica Minolta’s network specialists and technicians. They take over the responsibility for the full delivery, as well as the dismantling of existing equipment that does not live up to the requirements and visions that Coop has. They set up the new equipment and ensure that it is operational.

Because the shops are very different in terms of size and furnishing, the number of access points needed in the individual shops varies significantly as well. Typically, between 5 and 30 access points, but in some of the largest shops, there can be 40 to 50 access points. The network itself is divided into a customer network and a staff network.

Despite this complexity, Konica Minolta is able to monitor the entire network centrally from its office in Ballerup. From there, the company’s specialists can troubleshoot and, in many cases, remedy errors in the network. Further, Konica Minolta can also manage policies for which web pages may be accessed and regulate traffic, if necessary.

With Konica Minolta as a strong partner in IT, Coop can focus on reshaping tomorrow’s shopping experience for its customers – with digital tools enabling a completely new, more personal and localised service at the shop, while maintaining the highest levels of reliability and efficiency in the system.