Björn Weber

At the first inner city store of its Combi format, Bünting sells 500 articles fully automatically around the clock. This is the first use of the automatic store, which Wanzl and the Knapp subsidiary KHT presented at this year's EuroShop in Düsseldorf.

With Edeka's Netto, another German discounter is testing self-scanning with customers' smartphones. The team of IT Managing Director Claus Leitl deliberately relies on a proprietary development that is fully integrated into Netto's customer app.

In Portugal, Auchan has started a project with Trax using robots to report out-of-stocks, incorrect price labels or placement of items. Will the use of such robots, which is already widespread in the USA, also be successful across Europe?

Zebra wants to take over Reflexis for around 500 million euros. The plan shows the pressure on retail technology providers to do more business with software instead of hardware.

Walmart reacts to the pressure from Amazon: Also in Canada, the world’s largest retailer starts a multi-billion investment, predominately into technology. Two new distribution centres will be automated: One by Witron and one by Vanderlande. In its stores, Walmart aims for innovative inventory management, additional product information and innovative checkout processes -- partly based on computer vision.

Aldi Süd is launching a worldwide call for tenders to find start-ups in the fields of machine learning and computer vision that could help the discounter to automate stocktaking and scanning.

In dm Drogeriemarkt’s new distribution centre in Wustermarkt, Swisslog-controlled robots pack pallets fully automatically. To make this work, however, the cases are first separated and stored in a shuttle system with an 265,000 storage spaces.

Traditional manned checkout lanes are gone at Walmart’s Supercenter in Fayetteville, Arkansas. But not the staff. Shoppers who prefer to get their shopping scanned and bagged, get the service. But at NCR’s self-checkout tills.

Again, Amazon is putting the world of in-store technology in a state of awe. This time with Dash Cart, a shopping trolley that automatically logs products placed inside. It will have its first appearance it the soon-to-be opened first 3,000-square-metre Amazon supermarket in Woodland Hills. It is likely that Amazon will also equip its Wholefood Stores with the new checkout…

Although the retail industry in Germany has enough problems with the temporary reduction of sales tax, the Federal Ministry of Finance is refusing to extend the first deadline for the difficult conversion of the cash register system to tamper-proof security against tax fraud. Against the will of five federal states, which are now extending the deadline at least in exceptions.