The company behind the Enfore POS software solution which Europe’s leading retailer for pet supplies Fressnapf attempted to introduce since 2020, is insolvent. This has been reported by Manager Magazin. The insolvency filing of NumberFour AG – the registered name of Enfore – was received by the Berlin-Charlottenburg District Court last week. Enfore founder Marco Börries no longer belongs to Fressnapf’s advisory board, Fressnapf press officer Sebastian Boms told The Retail Optimiser today upon request. Fressnapf founder Torsten Toeller had appointed Marco Börries to the company’s advisory board in autumn 2020.
In light of the increased stake taken in Fressnapf by private equity firm Cinven in July of this year, the board of directors is being reorganised, the pet supplies company’s press officer told The Retail Optimiser. Fressnapf is also active in 11 countries outside Germany under the name Maxi Zoo.
“We will not continue the pilot project with the POS system from NumberFour AG – Enfore. The few test systems that have been put into operation will be rolled back to ensure ongoing operations in our stores,” explains Fressnapf’s Sebastian Boms to The Retail Optimiser. According to insiders, Fressnapf’s IT team has already written to a number of established checkout software providers, thus heralding a new round of tenders.
Decision in favour of Enfore came as a surprise in 2020
Fressnapf’s decision in favour of the Enfore solution from serial entrepreneur Marco Börries at the beginning of 2020 came as a surprise to industry insiders. Although Enfore came onto the market with big promises, the solution was neither fully developed nor did it have references from a company with the complexity of the Fressnapf franchise system.
In theory, Enfore’s approach was a very good match for the pet supplies retailer’s requirements, as it was cloud-based, could be used on mobile devices and was designed to be very omnichannel. In practice, however, Enfore had little ready at this point. And Enfore was also not to be seen at the relevant industry events, where retail technology professionals exchange ideas. This was because Marco Börries had long since placed the commercialisation of his solution in the hands of Deutsche Telekom.
Solution for micro-enterprises
There was a reason why Enfore was not on the radar of most retail technology analysts. The system was not intended for large, multi-store and multi-level retail organisations. Marco Börries had set out to bring mobile devices to the stand-alone tills used by bakers, kiosks and micro-enterprises in the retail and crafts sectors. The clever thing about his idea was the modular structure of the development: a standardised POS system called EnforeDasher and the EnforePaypad payment terminal were to serve all industries – a business logic adapted to specific sectors under the name EnforePOS.
Whether the mega-deal with Deutsche Telekom, which Marco Börries closed in a big publicity stunt at IFA in Berlin in 2017, has done his plans any good is now a matter for the corporate lawyers to argue about. Restaurant and small store owners, as well as hairdressers, were to be able to purchase the solution through Deutsche Telekom sales under the name ‘MagentaBusiness POS’. Marko Börries wanted to win over 200 million small businesses with the solution, as he explained not exactly modestly in 2017.
Direct connection to Torsten Toeller
Insiders told The Retail Optimiser that the decision in favour of Enfore at the beginning of 2020 was directly attributed to Fressnapf founder Torsten Toeller in his role as chairman of the board of directors of Europe’s largest pet supplies company. Five established POS software providers had taken part in the company’s call for tenders for a new checkout solution in 2019 – but Enfore was not among them.
To the surprise of the five usual suspects, they were all out of the game by early 2020. Marco Börries had apparently convinced Torsten Toeller of his plans beyond the selection process for the new POS software. In autumn 2020, Torsten Toeller then brought Enfore founder Marco Börries onto the board of directors of Fressnapf Holding SE.
No issues for the ongoing operation of the stores
The loss of almost four years of development time and the corresponding costs are likely to hurt Fressnapf. However, the damage to the pet supplies expert’s day-to-day business as a result of Enfore’s bankruptcy is likely to be nectlegable. Enfore has so far only been used in a few test stores, and the rest of the approximately 1,700 outlets in Germany and 11 other countries continue to work stably with an older version of GK’s POS Software.
However, since Fressnapf still has big plans to bring its solutions to the cloud and to interweave them with all its distribution channels in line with its omnichannel concept, Europe’s leading pet supplies retailer is currently in the process of selecting a new POS Software for the future, according to insiders. One feature that must not be missing is the option of completing the cashless checkout process on tablet computers, integrated into the process of providing personal advice at any location in the store.
