03 February 2022 | Schöneck

GK boosts its efforts to push through the East Asian market - first branch office established in Singapore

Following its market successes in Europe, the Americas and Africa, GK Software SE is now turning its attention to Southeast Asia, another highly developed retail landscape. In order to further expand business in this region, GK Software Asia Pte. Ltd. was founded in the international business hub Singapore. It is GK's goal to increase business relationships with the region's leading retailers from this excellent location. GK customers are already using the company's solutions in their branches in China, India, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

GK Software SE is pleased to announce that Vikrant Bhalla has been appointed as the Senior Vice President & General Manager of APJ, effective 1st of January 2022. Bhalla is a highly customer focused and passionate retail enthusiast with over 20 years' experience in leadership roles across the emerging markets. He will be based out of Singapore and lead the newly established GK Software Asia PTE. LTD reporting to Michael Dimde, Senior Vice President Global Sales - GK Software SE.

"We are experiencing incredibly strong growth across the globe as retailers accelerate their digital transformation efforts. Asia-Pacific & Japan's market potential is huge and is propelling the retail industry, generating about three-quarters of global growth", said Dimde. "Vikrant is a proven business leader with a record of building organizations from ground up, delivering outstanding results and creating world class innovative solutions for clients. Vikrant's leadership qualities and GK's inherent value proposition of its open retail platform approach, clear cloud strategy and strong product portfolio are an amazing combination for APJ's dynamic market", Dimde added.

Bhalla joins GK, with in-depth knowledge and experience of the retail industry in the APJ region. Over the last two decades, he has worked in large blue-chip organizations such as Toshiba and IBM across Australia, UK and Singapore in various roles ranging from leading professional services, product management and regional sales leadership teams to help clients develop business strategies to transform for the digital future.

"I believe that delivering an engaging, highly personalized customer experience is the key to success for retailers especially in the difficult times we have all experienced over the last couple of years.", said Bhalla. "My purpose with GK is to build a robust, fast paced agile organization in the APJ region to help develop amazing customer journeys for our clients so that they differentiate and elevate for success." he added.

About GK Software SE
GK Software SE is a leading developer and provider of standard software for the retail sector, and currently counts 22 percent of the world's 50 largest retailers among its customer base. According to a study published by RBR 2021, the Company is one of the leading international providers of POS software and is the fastest growing business in the industry in terms of the number of installations worldwide (without Hospitality and Petrol). The company offers an extensive range of solutions for stores and enterprise headquarters as well as for the implementation of contemporary omni-channel retail concepts. Thanks to its open and platform-independent software solutions in the GK/Retail Suite, the company has established itself as one of the market's leading providers of technology and innovations. Its solutions enable retail chains with numerous stores to optimize their business processes and to benefit from significant potential for saving costs and implementing customer loyalty programs in order to improve their competitiveness. In addition to its own software solutions, GK Software SE also offers customers a comprehensive range of implementation and maintenance services. Having been acquired in 2012, AWEK GmbH and in 2015, the retail segment of DBS Data Business Systems Inc. In 2017, the company acquired a majority shareholding in prudsys AG, a company focused on artificial intelligence. In 2018, the valuephone GmbH was acquired, which develops leading solutions for mobile consumers. retail7 GmbH, specializing in cloud solutions for smaller retailers, was founded in 2020.

The company employs 1, members of staff (figures for 30 2021) across its headquarters in Schöneck (Germany) and other business locations in Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, South Africa, Russia, Ukraine and the USA. GK Software SE's customers include many well-known retailers, including Adidas, Edeka, Lidl, Aldi, Coop (Switzerland), Netto Marken-Discount, Hornbach, Migros, Grupo Kuo and Walmart. The software is currently being used at almost 500,000 retail and payment installations across approximately 100,000 stores in more than 60 countries. The company has grown rapidly in recent years and its sales revenues totaled EUR 117.6 million in 2020. Since launching the company in 1990, the two founders Rainer Gläß (CEO) and Stephan Kronmüller (deputy board member), together with the experienced management team, have shaped GK Software into a profitable company exhibiting strong growth.

Further information about the company: https://www.gk-software.com

Contact:

Communications & Investor Relations

GK Software SE
Dr. René Schiller
Phone: +49 (0)37464-84-264
Fax: +49 (0)37464-84-15
E-mail: [email protected]