Joachim Pinhammer

Rewe Group’s Lithuanian subsidiary Iki has opened its first cashierless store in the city of Vilnius. The Iki Express convenience store uses technology from start-up Pixevia.

Bünting is upgrading its Nortmoor central distribution centre with warehouse automation technology from Dematic. A shuttle storage system and autonomous conveyor technology are to increase capacity and productivity of the operation.

German retailers see the greatest need for action in the use of mobile devices with checkout functions as well as self-checkouts and self-scanning systems. This is the result of EHI’s study POS Systems 2022. Overall, the number of cash registers used in retail is continuously decreasing. At the same time, systems are faced with growing tasks.

Russian grocery chain Vkusvill is testing unattended shopping at a convenience store in Moscow. Items are tracked using computer vision and AI from Moscow-based start-up Neurus.

7-Eleven is piloting virtual touch screens for self-checkouts at six locations in Tokyo. The first retail application of the novel technology from specialist Asukanet has been implemented by Toshiba Tec.

In its E-Center Gundelfingen, the Edeka regional co-operative Südwest is piloting intelligent shopping trolleys from Kaufungen-based start-up KBST. The retailer is currently testing customer acceptance with 20 of the systems called Smart Shopper.

US grocer Kroger is expanding its home delivery test operation with self-driving vehicles in Houston, Texas. For this, it will use the latest generation of electric, driverless vehicles from specialist Nuro.

JD.com has opened its first physical retail outlets in Europe. At initially two automated pick-up stations in the Netherlands, members of the retailer’s new warehouse club, dubbed Ochama, can pick up their online purchases on the same day.

Netto Marken-Discount pilots its new Pick&Go concept with Trigo technology in Munich. This makes the Edeka subsidiary the first German discounter to test autonomous shopping in live operation.

Coop Danmark is integrating shelf planning and automated replenishment with the `Living Retail Platform' of Finnish supplier Relex. In the medium term, the company intends to plan assortments and product placements individually at store level, Lebensmittel Zeitung reports.