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Ayl / Bad Kreuznach (dpa / lrs) - video conferences at work, with friends and relatives - and when shopping: In the corona pandemic, stores in Rhineland-Palatinate use video calls to virtually take customers into the store and the goods to customers bring home. The Wagner shoe store in Bad Kreuznach offers such video advice. “We started last year to keep seeing our customers. As usual in business, ”said Claudia Holbach, who runs the family business together with her sister. You want to continue to be able to offer the "best possible advice".
According to Holbach, the Wagner shoe store receives one or two video calls a day. Customers can start this during opening hours via the website or make an appointment. There are customers among them who “just want to see how it works”. Others, on the other hand, have a dress at home and are looking for exactly the right shoe. Holbach and her team can watch the fabric and color via video and show models accordingly. Customers can then pick up the goods or have them delivered to their homes within a two-kilometer radius.
It is mainly existing customers who use the additional service, said Holbac.
For the entrepreneur, video advice is “more of an image promotion” than an economic mainstay.
In this way she can show: “I am still there for my customers”, even if it is not possible on site.
“I just love to be in contact with my customers,” said the 37-year-old.
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The platform used by Schuhhaus Wagner comes from a start-up from the tranquil wine town of Ayl in the Trier-Saarburg district.
Thomas Konz, Fabian Densborn and Kai Schenke have developed an application that businesses can use to easily offer video advice.
The idea for this came from sport.
SV Tawern, whose soccer team Konz trains and plays for Densborn, had to forego training almost completely during the pandemic, like many other clubs. This is how the idea for a “digital club house” arose, reported Konz. Its development became the basis for “next-level shopping”. After a walk through the deserted city center of Saarburg, in which almost all shops were closed at the time, the founders decided to transfer their video platform to retailers.
For months, "nextlevelshopping" was in the test phase with test customers before it was officially founded in March 2021.
The application, for the development of which IT manager Densborn is responsible, works with any cell phone or laptop on which a browser is installed, said Konz. With one click, a completely encrypted connection to the shops is established, the one-to-one -Care start.
The video consultation works in a similar way to a conventional video conference application.
The founders are still working on a payment function.
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"Nextlevelshopping" now has around 50 customers.
This includes not only retailers who want to show their products, but also auto repair shops that can offer advice in this way.
Initially, they were “connected locally in the corner of Trier,” said Konz. “We are now active throughout Germany.
We have crossed the Trier border by a long way. "
The founders still have some plans: The sales department, for which Kai Schenke is responsible, is to be expanded significantly in the near future.
Because not only during the restrictions to contain the corona pandemic should “next-level shopping” be of interest to shops.
Even after that, the founders see potential for local retailers.
"Dying indoor stands are generally an issue," said Konz.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210426-99-352320 / 2
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