Case Study : (Dijii) Ltd Digital app Vs Paper – Receipts in the Retail Sector

Introduction

This case study refers to Dijii Ltd, which is a UK-based company that offers revolutionary payment solutions (Indole, 2022). The said company is in term of developing a digital receipt mobile app that also covers certain products and services discounts to customers through loyalty membership cards.

As a digital transformation consultant, this case study will highlight the current situation of the company by analyzing the existing receipt status in the retail sector using horizon scan and SWOT analysis. Moreover, a future plan will be proposed that mainly focuses on the digital transformation road map, a Business Process Model (BPM) after transformation, the main risks of having such mobile app and ways of mitigation. Finally, this case study will show how Dijii mobile app will work with retailers along their customers.

Note: Dijii and its competitors were treated as fictional companies. Competency information are not necessarily real and they were mentioned to show the concept practically.

1. Analysis on the existing receipt status in the retail sector

Digital transformation redefines business progress and success nowadays. Along with collaborative technologies, (McKinsey, 2020) declared 67% of businesses use swift automation and artificial intelligence due to COVID19 pandemic. Dijii as any other business must make the final decision either to recreate a new business process model and join the technology revolution, or to die gradually and close.

1.1. Horizon Scan

1.1.1. Key Players

1.1.2. Competitive Analysis

It is vital to locate and research competitors of Dijii who are sharing the same market. The comparison process will grant adequate understanding about Dijii unique strengths and weaknesses in relative to other competitive companies and will improve its business and marketing strategies. Based on (Kazim, 2023) conduction of competitive analysis, table1 presents ranking of the top 13 competitors to Dijii in UK who currently have digital receipt apps, along comparison criteria and scaling from 1 to 10 (Lowest to highest value). The following table was done on four steps:

1- Listing direct, secondary and Substitute competitors in UK.

2- Gathering information based on 8 criteria.

3- Evaluating competitors' strengths and weaknesses via competitive analysis table.

4- Determining Dijii advantages and improvement aspects.

Table1. Competitive analysis of the top 13 digital receipt competitors to Dijii in UK.

It is obvious in the competitive analysis table that Shoppix, SnapMyEat, and ZipZero are dominating directly in UK market with the highest scales in product quality, geographic coverage, marketing tactics, reputation & customers research, positioning and partnership. Adding to this, their products are sold in competitive prices. Although Dijii is well-repetitioned and sells at competitive price, it has a long way to improve competition criteria and cope with the 6 direct competitors, especially in term of marketing tactics, exposure, positioning and most importantly, creating an efficient digital receipt app.

1.1.3. SWOT Analysis

For over six decades, businesses used to employ SWOT analysis as a vital tool for strategic planning and development by measuring business internal factors like strengths and weaknesses, and external factors like opportunities and threats (Benzaghta et al., 2021). As of Dijii Ltd SWOT analysis, a qualitative two-by-two grid assessment was proposed in figure 1 to evaluate the current situation of the company. (Palomares et al., 2021) also assisted in highlighting critical SWOT thoughts for industry, innovation and infrastructure.

Figure 1. SWOT analysis for Dijii.

Worth saying, Dijii can grab huge investment opportunities out of digital transformation by owning a mobile app and offering digital receipt solutions to retailers. Figure 2 shows an interesting statistic published by (Statista, 2022) presenting the size of retail technology investments in the UK and France in 2018, at which share of retailers has reached 68% in mobile apps and 45% in digital receipts. These investment shares are expected to shoot after COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 2. Mobile apps and Digital receipts investment shares in the UK and France in 2018.

Source: (Statista, 2022)

1.1.4. Current Business Maturity Level

Based on digital business maturity model discussed by (Fletcher, 2014), Dijii is currently classified as level 2 amongst less than 15% of "E-engagement" enterprises in UK.

Figure 3. Digital Business Maturity Model for SME in UK as of October 2014. Source: (Fletcher, 2014).

As of now, Dijii is responsible of processing and printing receipts for its clients with no further policy to proceed promotional services or digital migration.

2. Proposal For Future

2.1. Digital Transformation Roadmap

With the digital revolution, people prefer to make online orders and delivery rather than physically being in retail stores. Figure 4 shows the most valuable retailers worldwide in 2022, at which Amazon obtained the highest value with 281,695 million US Dollars (Statista, 2023). This statistic hits an alarm to Dijii that their target audience are transforming digitally and Dijii has to cope with its client's strategies by creating a new business process model and developing a digital receipt mobile app. Another impulse for Djii to transform digitally is the number of mobile app downloads worldwide which increased from 140.68 billion downloads in 2016 to 230 billion downloads in 2022.

Figure 4. The most valuable retailers worldwide in 2022 (In million U.S dollars). Source: (Statista, 2023)

2.2. Suggested steps for Dijii digital transformation

2.2.1. Third party integration

At the beginning, this kind of partnership is required for an easier access to existed clients. integrating third-party providers is considered as a temporary solution until Dijii digital receipt app is launched and stabilized. Meanwhile, Dijii is supposed to undergo effective marketing and promotion campaigns to its new digital receipt app through sponsored social media advertisements and paid influencers. Also, Dijii must activate its social media platforms and keep clients and followers posted about the new digital receipt app, as last update on social media was on September 2022.

2.2.2. Website renovation

Since current website is inaccessible, Dijii must handle the domain issues, resolve security restrictions, and renovate website according to its new business strategies and objectives.

2.2.3. Dijii digital receipt mobile application

2.2.3.1. Key benefits

Dijii must be versatile in order to make large-scale decisions concern renewing business strategy to satisfy retailers demands. (Islam, 2017, Khaskheli et al., 2017) assured this can be achieved by setting a future plan by emerging technologies. Dijii digital receipt mobile app will cut down running cost required for printing paper receipts and hiring staff due to high workload (Ulas, 2019). Scanning the barcode with mobile devices will facilitate customers communication by receiving backable, secured and instant messages. In addition, Dijii receipt app will save retailers along their customers time to process receipts, and utilize promotional discounts on certain products or services which also will raise their target audience base. (Shan et al., 2020) declared in their research that mobile apps assisted in recycling behavioral change in Singapore. Based on this research, Dijii digital mobile app will contribute in environmental sustainability by eliminating paper receipts and being a zero-waste business. Moreover, having an interactive mobile app can build an extraordinary experience for retailers by offering customization provisions to set their preferences.

2.2.3.2. Chose the best Mobile app type

As shown in Figure 5, there are three types of mobile apps which are defined by the technology used to code them:

Native apps are developed for one platform or operating system (OS). i.e. Whatsapp, Tesla, Soundcloud, and Waze apps.

Web apps are websites version that performs using mobile browser. i.e. Amazon.com, Pinterest, Starbucks and Uber apps.

Hybrid apps are native and web apps combination, these mobile apps have their own icon that enable users to download them from app stores. i.e. Twitter, Gmail, Microsoft Teams, and Instagram apps.

Figure 5. Web, Native and Hybrid mobile apps. Source: (Valdellon, 2022)

The decision factor to choose the most appropriate type amongst the three mobile apps for Dijii will depend on which one will provide the highest stability and quickest performance. In this case, native app type can fulfill Dijii resolution and satisfy its target audiences (Retailers and their customers). Google play, iOS and android apps are optimum to set Dijii receipt mobile app.

2.2.3.3. Transforming to Dijii digital receipt mobile app

Summing up with steps for Dijii digital transformation to have an environmentally friendly and a cost and time offering mobile app:

1- Identify the idea behind Dijii receipt mobile app

2- Do market research and analysis

3- Dijii app registration process on Google Play and Apple store by development team

4- Enhance retailer's experience

5- Set up strong security and privacy policy for Dijii app

6- Test Dijii mobile app before launching

7- Implement Dijiis' marketing strategy

2.2.3.4. Potential risks and mitigation

Dijii mobile app may encountered by several security challenges concerning the app itself, the server, or the mobile device. A proposal of security risks mitigation must be there to guarantee security and stability of Dijii app especially for retailers and their customers (Cypress Data Defense RSS, 2020). Weak app security causes loss of reputation and then as a consequence leads to revenue loss because of retailer's sudden drop. Table 2 lists the main risks that may confront Dijii mobile app and ways to tackle them according to (Mitrea & Borda, 2020).

Table 2. Main risks of having digital mobile app and how to mitigate them.

2.2.3.5. Dijii Digital App Timeline

An average timeline of six Months will be consumed for the digital transformation and exposure.

2.2.3.6. Business Process Model (BPM)

Aguilar-Savén, R. S. (2004) assured that business process must be modelled appropriately to enable enterprises to understand, analyze, and integrate their business structures and strategies in a right manner. Microsoft.com (2022) has proposed a digital receipt flow chart (Figure 6) that assisted to Dijii (BPM) set up at which Dijii can safely upload a receipt to a data center for digital receipts, and then provide retailers and customers access to this database to get special discounts or retrieve points from their loyalty membership cards (Figure 7).

Figure 6. Digital Receipt data information flow chart. Source: (Microsoft.com, 2022)

Figure 7. Dijii Business Process Model Notation after Digital Transformation (Digital Receipt Mobile App).

Conclusion

Although Dijii is a well-established company, there is still long way for improvement in how it uses all the above digital transformation steps to accomplish its intended objectives.

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