Coop Sweden has decided to drive its unmanned Coop Mini stores and other outlets, which only partly operate without staff, using solutions from Swedish start-up Honestbox. The company plans to gradually convert its current total of 21 stores, operating 24 hours a day, to the new platform.
First stores have already gone live with the new technology. Vilma Reponen, who is responsible for the project at Coop Sweden, reports that transition has gone smoothly so far and that pilot stores are running smoothly. The company plans to introduce the concept to further outlets in future. It expects the collaboration with Honestbox to provide a scalable and reliable solution for further development of its store concepts in Sweden.
To meet its customers’ growing demand for flexible shopping hours, the cooperative is further expanding the number of its fully or partially unmanned stores. It is not only the Coop Mini stores that the company keeps open around the clock. At a growing number of stores, Coop keeps part of the sales area open for self-service customers after staff have finished work.
Platform for unmanned stores
The cooperative opened its first Coop Mini Store in September 2022 at Täby Park in Stockholm. There, as well as at hybrid stores after closing time, customers previously gained access via Coop’s Scan & Pay smartphone app, which they could also use to scan and pay for their purchases. The solution has been based on a cloud-native platform from Extenda Retail.
The new solution from Honestbox is designed to provide a comprehensive technological platform for unmanned operations. This includes, among others, POS systems, access control systems and payment solutions. The provider enables access control via various methods, ranging from BankID to facial recognition. The solution allows scanning and payment either at the Honestbox express checkout or via mobile using Scan & Go. It supports various cashless payment methods from card payments to invoicing.
Cloud-based checkout
The POS system offered by Honestbox is entirely cloud-based. The modular system is designed to be suitable for both staffed, hybrid and unmanned operations.
The start-up opened its first self-operated unmanned store in 2015. Since then, it has equipped more than 450 stores across eight countries. Clients include kiosk and convenience store operator Pressbyran as well as AutoMat and Never Closed outlets in Sweden.
