South Australia-based convenience chain On The Run (OTR) is continuing its digital focus with a new app that will enable customers to pre-order coffee and purchase fuel.
The OTR app will see a number of features rolled out over the coming six months with the first being pre-ordering coffee to jump the queue on arrival and earning ‘Buy 4 Get 1 Free’ rewards across all OTR’s food brands.
Michaela Webster, chief operating officer of OTR, said: “We are really excited to get this into market for our customers, it is a faster way to get barista made seriously good coffee without queuing and what’s better when you download the app your first coffee is free.”
Customers will be able to pre-order their coffee via the app and have it ready for collection when they arrive at their selected OTR store.
The convenience chain said the project has been more than 18 months in the making from the inception of the idea to building the app and then training 3000 staff across head office and stores.
Brendon Hore, chief information officer for OTR, said: “Behind the app there are a lot of moving parts which have had to work seamlessly, the stores’ POS systems, the barista order management systems, beacons for customer messaging and the customer loyalty system.”
“We have worked hard to plan and then implement, what we think is a great outcome for our customers. We are currently now working to provide guest Wi-Fi into all our 135 sites.”
Local suppliers collaborate for launch
Ms Webster said the company has worked intentionally with local suppliers and internal talent to create the app, including South Australian company, The Distillery.
The Distillery’s general manager, Sam Jeffries, said the project is an example of how SA businesses can produce world class digital platforms through collaboration.
“This project pushed the boundaries – not just the app itself, but with the retail systems integration and loyalty platform, we look forward to continuing to partner with OTR on future innovations,” said Mr Jeffries.
In the coming months there will be some new features being added to the app, which include pre-ordering and an “innovative and compelling way to purchase fuel”, according to OTR.
OTR taps into Internet of Things
The launch of the app comes just one week after OTR begun piloting predictive analytics in store as part of what it describes as a “wider innovation strategy”.
Its new solution uses the Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics for a dual benefit: instead of having Peregrine’s site team manually log the temperature of appliances, as well as its operating specification, roughly every four hours, the sensors handle it automatically, saving time and reducing the risk of error, according to Peregrine.
The pilot, which is currently being trialed at Peregrine’s OTR Hillbank store, was developed in collaboration with Microsoft and Empired.
It works by leveraging IoT sensors to automatically log the temperature of product storage systems, freeing staff for more value-added tasks, reducing the chance of equipment failures, and delivering greater operational transparency.
Sensor-collected data is then aggregated into the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite analysed for key staff with easy-to-understand visuals via Power BI. By analysing the sensor-collected data using Microsoft Power BI the team is able to assess the health status and where they require resources.
According to Peregrine, data and IoT technology helps reduce its enterprise risk, which is predicated on its complete compliance with Australian Food Safety Standards.
Local rules and regulations dictate that any errors in the control of food storing appliances result in stock being destroyed to ensure the health of customers, so ensuring appliances remain operational within specified tolerances is essential for Peregrine’s operations.
The OTR App can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for both iOS and Android smartphone users.
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