The Otto Group Partners with PowaTag to Drive Mobile Engagement

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HAMBURG, Germany and LONDON, January 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The world's second-largest consumer online retailer will utilise the pioneering mobile commerce platform to offer greater accessibility to consumers 

The Otto Group has announced a partnership with Powa Technologies to secure and enhance their position in the modern retail market. This partnership will provide millions of customers of the Otto Group with a quick and simple way to shop and engage with its brands online, in-store and on the go. With mCommerce sales set to reach $626bn per annum in less than two years' time^[i], the free mobile app enables users to complete purchases in seconds by interacting with triggers including QR codes, beacons, audio signals as well as through links found on social media.    

     (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150109/724236 )

The Otto Group is the second largest consumer online retailer in the world, made up of 123 companies, including OTTO, Bonprix, Crate & Barrel and Freemans Grattan. The Otto Group also owns Hermes Group, which is Germany's largest independent home delivery operator and has more than one million doorstep contacts each day in Germany alone. During the last financial year, total revenue for The Otto Group was up at $13.2bn, with its eCommerce division serving as a key factor. The brands working with the Otto Group also operate over 400 brick-and-mortar stores worldwide. The partnership with PowaTag will allow the Otto Group to optimise these assets and offer a true omnichannel experience.

Hanjo Schneider, Member of the Executive Board of the Otto Group, comments: "PowaTag is a supremely intelligent solution because it fully embraces the mobile device as a gateway for all elements of retail. Thanks to its global footprint, Powa can quickly enhance Otto Group's customer experience in Germany by utilising their considerable global experience."

PowaTag is a future-proof and multi-dimensional platform that is capable of adapting to changing consumer habits. The most recent solution uses visual recognition technology, which allows consumers to go from hovering their smartphone camera over printed material to a completed purchase within a few seconds, all using pre-saved transaction data.

Dan Wagner, Founder and CEO of Powa Technologies, comments: "Mobile devices have acted as a catalyst to create a new breed of connected consumers that want to engage with their favourite brands on their own terms. The Otto Group has fully recognised the sweeping changes hitting the retail landscape, and by embracing the transformational potential of PowaTag they will be able to cater for changing consumer habits, meeting the increasing demands for freedom and flexibility from their customers."

"Our strategic partnership with the world's second largest online retailers is a massive endorsement for our vision to reinvent the retail landscape. This partnership has unprecedented scope and will enable us to transform the shopping experience for millions of the Otto Group's customers and help drive growth around the world."

About Otto Group 

Founded in Germany in 1949, today the Otto Group is a globally operating retail and services group with approximately 54,000 employees. The Group includes 123 major companies and is present in over 20 countries in Europe, North and South America and Asia. Its business activities are grouped into three segments: Multichannel Retail, Financial Services and Service. In the 2014/15 financial year (to 28 February) the Otto Group generated revenue of 12.1 billion euros. It is the world's second-largest online retailer in the end-consumer (B2C) business and Europe's largest online retailer for B2C fashion and lifestyle. E-commerce, catalogue sales and over-the-counter retail form the three pillars of the Otto Group's Multichannel Retail strategy. Its worldwide corporate activities, numerous strategic partnerships and joint ventures provide the Otto Group with excellent opportunities to transfer know-how and leverage areas of synergy potential. Group companies operate largely independently, guaranteeing flexibility, customer proximity and optimum target-group appeal in their respective national markets.

About Powa Technologies 

• The Powa platform was built to provide a true omni-channel commerce environment for retailers and brands. The platform consists of three products - PowaWeb (eCommerce platform on the web),  PowaPOS (innovative hardware and software for physical retail environments) and PowaTag (a 'commerce anywhere' transaction enabler).
• All Powa sites are PCI Level 1 compliant and fully secure.

About PowaTag 

The retail landscape has been transformed forever with the world launch of PowaTag, the revolutionary new retail enablement service from Powa Technologies. The technology was recently named by leading analyst Gartner as one of its Cool Vendors in Ecommerce for 2015. Over 1200 worldwide brands including Universal Music and Carrefour have signed up for PowaTag. Here are some main benefits of the solution:

• PowaTag turns impulse into purchase, finally eliminating the wait that leads to incomplete transactions
• Offline environments and printed materials become online shopping environments - even if the shop is closed
• Print, poster and broadcast advertising become accountable sales vehicles, enabling advertisers to measure ROI in real terms
• Infomercials and other broadcast media are transformed with AudioTag, including events such as football games and concerts
• No credit card data stored on the device - all held in the cloud with PCI Level 1 Certification
• Transforms the in-store experiences through close proximity beacon intelligence, which can customise down to inches and by customer.

PowaTag In Action - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G22FHMtFx4E&feature=youtu.be

http://www.powa.com

i. http://www.statista.com/statistics/324636/mobile-retail-commerce-revenue-worldwide/ 

SOURCE Powa Technologies