As part of the strategic realignment of its department stores, Bütema AG implemented a comprehensive digital transformation of the GALERIA store landscape. The aim was not to modernize individual touchpoints, but to digitally revamp the entire department store chain. From the internal process landscape and employee support to digital customer communication on the shop floor.
Today, the infrastructure built by Bütema forms the digital backbone of numerous GALERIA locations and is being continuously expanded.
GALERIA brings together an exceptionally wide range of products under one roof: from fashion and household goods to electronics, cosmetics, and toys. This diversity goes hand in hand with frequently changing promotions, complex product flows, and high demands on advice and guidance.
At the same time, many processes had developed over time and were heavily analog-based. Advertising campaigns had to be implemented manually, information was fragmented, and employees had only limited access to digital tools to support them in their day-to-day business.
The main challenge was to gradually but consistently digitize an entire chain of department stores without disrupting ongoing operations.
Bütema AG developed a holistic approach to digitization that goes far beyond traditional digital signage solutions. The focus was on the close integration of:
•Digital employee tools
• Centrally controlled customer communication
•Interactive information and consulting systems
•Retail media
At the heart of the solution is the InStore Assistant, which provides digital support to employees directly on the sales floor. This is complemented by a comprehensive digital signage ecosystem that covers all relevant touchpoints in the store: from the shop window to the floor, from the counter to the service area.
All components were designed so that they can now be centrally controlled, flexibly expanded, and transferred to new branches.
The project began with the introduction of the InStore Assistant for sales staff. The app initially provided support for classic tasks such as price queries, availability, variant research, and customer advice. With its gradual expansion, the range of functions grew considerably. Today, InStore Assistant maps central processes along the entire flow of goods: from goods receipts and issues to stock transfers, returns, price changes, and label printing, right through to the complete execution and documentation of large-scale inventories.
At the same time, the sales area was comprehensively digitized. Digital signage solutions in a wide variety of formats were used in numerous stores: LED and LCD screens, large-format shop window LED walls, digital counter cards, self-service terminals, and interactive digital signage.
A striking example of this are large-scale LED installations in shop windows, which extend advertising content into urban spaces in an eye-catching way, as well as interactive applications such as the Interactive Fitting Room, which brings digital product information directly into the changing rooms.
In the course of renovating individual branches, new digital applications were also developed that go far beyond traditional information presentation. These include, among others:
• Digital queue management with Bluetooth buttons to display available cash registers
• Interactive digital signage to present regional partners and product ranges
• Digital product advisors, for example to filter and compare products that require explanation
• Double-sided displays to communicate new service offerings
• Fully digitized floor guides, which can now be used in up to seven languages. Directly on the display via touch or via QR code on your own smartphone
• Retail media integration for additional revenue at the POS
The content management system from Bütema AG allows all content, processes, and approvals to be controlled, monitored, and managed across all locations.
Consistent digitization has led to the restructuring of an entire chain of department stores. Advertising campaigns can now be implemented centrally, quickly, and flexibly, from the smallest counter element to large-format LED walls.
Customers benefit from digital information, orientation, and advice points that structure and simplify the shopping experience. Digital tools relieve employees in their day-to-day business and enable them to map processes more efficiently, transparently, and consistently.
The digital infrastructure that has been created is in permanent use, has proven itself in ongoing operations, and is continuously being expanded to include new locations, functions, and use cases.
The GALERIA project exemplifies how a complex department store chain can be holistically digitally transformed. Not as a selective modernization, but as a strategic restructuring of the entire branch landscape.
The combination of operational tools, digital touchpoints, and central control continues to form the basis for GALERIA's digital development and underscores Bütema AG's commitment to implementing digitalization in retail in a comprehensive, scalable, and practical manner.
Digital signage screens ranging from counter cards to LED walls are being installed. These can be used to display advertising campaigns quickly, easily, flexibly, and centrally. Self-service terminals and interactive fitting rooms offer customers information points where they can browse the department store chain's wide range of products. In addition to simple price labeling, staff on the sales floor and behind the scenes can now use InStore Assistant to map the entire flow of goods, right up to large-scale annual inventories.
• Industry: Department store / Retail
• Services: Digital signage (LED and LCD screens, large-format displays), central content control for digital signage, InStore Assistant for sales staff, digitization of goods and inventory processes, digital inventory management, control via content management system, digital employee and process workflows, self-service terminals, interactive touchpoints on the sales floor, interactive fitting rooms (digital changing rooms), digital product advisors (e.g., comparison and filter solutions), digital floor guides (touch and non-touch versions), multilingual information and orientation systems, digital queue management, retail media
• Special features: Holistic digitization of a department store chain, hundreds of displays, modular expandability, ongoing expansion
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