Kifli.hu exploded into the Hungarian market in the spring of 2020. Initially, small white vans with the Kifli inscription and logo provided an unusual sight on the streets of the capital, but soon an ever-widening circle of people learned about the online store, which specializes mainly in food. We lived in the time of the first wave of the Covid epidemic, schools closed, most stores couldn’t open. Suddenly, a lot of people switched to homeoffices, and we were reluctant to go to the corner store or the larger stores that were open for daily consumer goods. Rather, we ordered food and other household items from home, next to a computer, using a tablet or even a smartphone.
Due to the epidemic, Kifli only accepted online card payments at that time. As a precaution, couriers could not be paid by credit card either, and cash was of course out of the question. How did they think about Kiflin, what history could they rely on in terms of services and payment? We asked Péter Klekner , the managing director of Kifli.hu
Péter Klekner: After our order of a few hundred per day measured when entering the market – with the outbreak of the Covid epidemic – we increased the number of our orders tenfold. Prior to the pandemic, we provided our couriers with a cash payment option, but this was suspended for security reasons due to the epidemic. Kifli is a member of the Rohlik Group for online food delivery in Europe. We have tried several financial service providers, but now we have found a stable partner in Adyencég. The entire Rohlik Group switched, so did we.
Computerworld: What was the biggest challenge at the time of the epidemic?
KP: The biggest challenge was the shortage of stocks, limited courier capacity and the shortage of warehouse manpower.
CW: In the case of online card payment, we pay in advance when ordering, then the amount actually payable and the difference between the prepaid amount is settled by the company afterwards. Is this process fully automated?
KP: In connection with this topic, I consider it important to clarify that the the buyer does not pay in advance, but the system reserves the amount on the card, and then the price of the products actually delivered is deducted from the buyer’s account after delivery. All this is done by our own IT system and the payment service provider Adyen. The latter is present as a link between the card provider and us.
CW: IT security is a key issue. What measures are in place to ensure that everything goes well, that their customers’ data is secure and that there is no misuse?
KP: We do our best to keep our customers’ data secure. To this end, we are constantly developing our systems. For precisely these security reasons, we do not provide information on what devices we use.
CW: It is now possible to accept a card with a mobile phone without a POS terminal. Do Kifli couriers use such a solution (for example, when expanding the fleet, for reasons of economy)?
KP: We do not currently have such a solution, but we are exploring the possibilities. Sustainability is also important to us, so we are open to any development that helps resource management.
CW: Do you use or plan to use artificial intelligence? solutions? If yes, in which area
KP: In the field of supply / procurement, artificial intelligence helps order forecasting, thus supporting our employees and ensuring that there are always as many fresh products available as we can serve our customers. We also use artificial intelligence in the e-shop to personalize our content, saving our customers time.
CW: The Kifli service is also available from iOS and Android. How are orders distributed between the two mobile tabs
KP: Based on our experience about iOS more people order: about 60 to 70 percent more than our customers using the Android operating system.
CW: Has there ever been a system outage at Kiflin?
KP: Like most businesses, we have experienced bottlenecks in our system in the past. We handle these bottlenecks in the shortest possible time, in line with our business policy, with the support of a professional, agile team. As with any company, we have specific processes in place in the event of a disaster.
CW: During the pandemic period of the last year and a half, Kiflin had to solve many tasks, including unexpected ones. Where did they get or where are they going?
KP: Our current product range includes about 11 thousand products. The number of our couriers is about two hundred. We have our servers located in a data center, but we do not use cloud-based systems. Our software is internally developed. We work with our own IT team, which is managed from our Czech parent company. We are constantly expanding to serve as many customers as possible in as large a geographical area as possible.
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