Press release
Göttingen/Sursee, 14th November 2019
Bison and xplace establish a strategic partnership
The two IT companies Bison Schweiz AG and xplace GmbH are entering into a strategic partnership. Together, they will be offering a complete manufacturer- and hardware-independent service portfolio for projects in the field of electronic shelf labelling.
The strategic collaboration between the Swiss business software specialists Bison Schweiz AG and the German company xplace GmbH, the expert in point-of-sale digitalisation, is bringing about the creation of a unique, complete range of services for ESL projects in the brick-and-mortar retail sector. «Our solutions and expertise complement one another optimally, so that now we can jointly realise ESL projects – creating a one-stop source providing all services,» explains Florian Bernauer, the CEO of Bison Schweiz AG. Marco Wassermann, the CEO of xplace GmbH, adds: «As we advise and operate completely independently of producers and hardware, traders can be assured that we’ll provide them with the technology that suits their needs best.»
A complete synergetic portfolio encompassing the point of sale, ERP and inventory management
This isn’t the first time the two companies have worked together – in fact, they’ve gained extensive expertise from projects which they’ve already successfully realised together. For example, they jointly carried out the world’s biggest ESL project for the Media Saturn Retail Group: twelve million electronic shelf labels were installed in approximately 1,000 stores. The two CEOs are certain that here the synergy contributed significantly to the success of the project – particularly as their core services perfectly complemented one another. They plan to make use of this aspect in future, as the collaboration creates a complete synergetic portfolio that goes beyond the ESL services and encompasses everything from advising customers on hardware and software, ERP data matching and installation to operations monitoring, service and support. At the same time, the companies continue to maintain autonomous presences in their markets.
Dynamically adjusting product prices with ESL
The importance of electronic price labels is steadily growing: due to the increasing competition between offline and online retail, product prices are becoming more and more dynamic, too. In some cases, they even have to be adjusted daily – an investment of time and effort which is quite simply disproportionate if paper labels are used for a huge number of products. Here, so-called «electronic shelf labels» (ESLs) offer a solution.
In February 2020, both companies are going to be running a joint stand at the EuroShop trade fair in Düsseldorf in Hall 6, on Stand G41, where (among other things) they’ll be presenting their ESL solutions.
