The Future of Smart Retail, Today.
Last Friday afternoon, in the attic office on one of the busiest streets in Stockholm I had the chance to interview Carl Norberg, one of the co-founders of Turnpike. They have been a star client of Flic, Shortcut Labs for a few years now, however I wanted to gain a better understanding of their solution and how Flic coexists within their product offering.
Turnpike, founded in 2017, is a Swedish-based scaleup that strive to be the leading SaaS company for frontliners. They created a platform where physical retail stores can manage both their employees and daily operations on a single program.
The solution consists of Smart Watches the employees can wear and communicate with one another as well as Flic buttons and interactive screens placed strategically around the store for customers to access help in a simple way.
The ecosystem allows employees to feel less stressed when working by creating an efficient working environment where assistance is offered where and when needed.
Turnpike’s solution allows for retail stores to track and act on status updates, shift planning, or customer help requests within seconds.
“It is all about efficiency, knowing where to be, what to do and how to prioritize. We’re therefore digitalizing the workforce and increase the value of their biggest assets, which is the staff”
Carl Norberg, Co-Founder Turnpike Group
See how H&M Home in Stockholm uses Turnpike’s system for a better customer experience as well as a more efficient workplace.
Customer communication, made easy
Staff can easily communicate with one another without the use of phones or walkie talkies, allowing for a more hands free experience when working, as well as allowing customers an extra way to request help; at the push of a button.
By installing buttons with explanation signs in the store and dressing up the staff in watches, it also changes the mindset of the employees to really get them to be customer oriented and focus.
“We give them the means and the information they need to take more clever decisions on issues such as staffing. It’s an empowering tool for discreet and instant customer help, while keeping frontline staff fully focused on daily tasks and responsibilities, generating invaluable data and facts for immediate and future improvements of store operations and profitability.”
How has Flic helped Turnpike’s Offering?
Logically, customers are not wearing the watches. The staff needs to be notified that someone needs help, and therefore a Flic button is the most straightforward way to get assistance.
“Customers expect and deserve excellent service. When, for instance, groceries have a Flic button they can press it and the right person will quickly come to help. The Flic buttons can easily be moved around to different areas when needed. ”
Having access points like Flic buttons around the stores further opens up an extra layer of communication, where the store genuinely cares about the customers needs. They can ask for help if needed and if they do not require assistance, the buttons send a message of care and responsibility to the shopper.
“Our collaboration is great. I think it really adds a lot of value and as a software company it also really helps that we do not have to take care of the hardware, instead we work with the best in class companies.”
Self-scanning is growing rapidly and simplifies for both store and customer. It builds loyalty. Personal guidance to get started quickly has proven absolutely crucial and with Turnpike, help is just a press of a button away.
What are your future expansion plans for 2023?
For 2023, Turnpike is looking into expanding store coverage of their existing customers, such as their partnership with H&M Group, Åhléns, Willy’s, ICA, etc. as well as winning new retail customers in the Nordic and Beyond. They are mostly in Sweden, but have integrated internationally to stores in Germany, The Netherlands & UK.
“Turnpike is expanding, and Flic is a natural part of our offering, there is no installation where Flic is not included. I am excited to see how we can grow together and expand Turnpike into even more locations”
Our team at Flic is excited to see Turnpike’s growth and how we can continue supporting them in our partnership. If you want to include Flic to your business and upgrade user experience and create an additional revenue stream, contact us here.
Read more about Turnpike.
