‘Headless commerce’ hones Kroger’s pickup, delivery services

The Kroger Co. has deployed a “headless commerce” curbside and delivery solution that dispenses a “seamless associate experience” while cutting back on customers’ wait times.

Hingham, Mass.-based OneView Commerce said its Unified Commerce Platform enables more than 1,000 Kroger locations to meet changing shopper needs by quickly finalizing digital orders when they are delivered at curbside pickup or through home delivery — all while improving the employee workload.

“Using OneView's platform, we continue to deliver an innovative associate experience,” explained Sriram Samu, customer technology vice president at Cincinnati-based Kroger. “The solution helps us create a seamless associate experience through guided processes and simplified training, ultimately reducing our customer wait times.”

OneView, which calls its solution “the next-gen retail architecture that puts you in control,” focuses on customer-first engagement where retailers respond immediately with relevant, critical interaction anywhere. The company noted that capability has become essential since the onset of COVID-19, when retailers learned they must pivot rapidly in response to fast-changing shopper behaviors.

OneView said its headless commerce platform provides control and agility to Kroger teams who develop transformative experiences leveraging the technology provider’s unified commerce transaction engine. In addition, the solution, empowers Kroger to reimagine, develop and own the unique customer experiences that differentiate its brand; provides a unified commerce transaction engine that makes experience development fast, consistent and easy; and shortens time-to-innovation with critical use cases including pickup, delivery, pay at curb, in-store checkout and iterative next-gen retail point of sale, OneView reported.

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Innovation teams can deploy digital initiatives across any and all customer touchpoints without disrupting Kroger’s business-specific and legacy processes, added OneView.

“We are pleased to support Kroger’s phenomenal success in speeding delivery of solutions based on their strategic business transformation priorities and customers' needs,” Linda Palanza, CEO at OneView Commerce. “Their results are a testament to our vision for unified commerce and our platform’s power to enhance customer and store associate experiences while enabling retailers to retain control over the development and delivery of new brand-based interactions.”

The nation’s largest supermarket retailer, The Kroger Co. as of its fiscal 2021 year-end offered online grocery pickup from 2,257 stores and on-demand delivery from 2,500 stores.

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