Lekkerland has opened an unmanned Rewe To Go store at Koblenz main station to provide travellers and commuters with snacks and drinks around the clock, seven days a week. At this location, the subsidiary of Rewe Group, which specialises in on-the-go consumption, is relying on the smart store concept known internally as ‘Smart Shop’, which works with technology from Portuguese provider Reckon.ai.
The 65 square metre convenience store mainly serves customers with products they can consume immediately or on their journey. These include sandwiches, wraps, salads, sweets and savoury snacks, coffee and cold drinks as well as tobacco products. Selected food and drugstore items complete the range.
Products are stored in vending machines and refrigerators. To access the goods, customers must first register via a cashless payment method. In addition to Girocard, the system accepts debit and credit cards as well as Google Pay and Apple Pay. Using cameras and weight sensors, artificial intelligence identifies the purchases and automatically collects the amount via the selected payment method. When purchasing alcohol and tobacco products, shoppers must scan their ID card or driving licence for age verification.
More Smartstores expected at highly frequented locations
Rewe To Go in Koblenz is not the first unmanned store to serve travellers in Germany. Competitor Tegut operates its Teo at Hanau railway station, using technology from Wanzl and Snabble. At Edeka Jäger at Stuttgart Airport, round-the-clock operation is made possible with a card access system from Wanzl and Diebold Nixdorf self-service checkouts. The Retail Optimiser reported. Locations that are heavily frequented even after normal store opening hours are ideal for automated operation.
Lekkerland also sees development potential for its smart store concepts in such locations. Mehmet Tözge, Vice President Smart Stores at Lekkerland, explains: “We are very excited about our first smart store at a railway station. High-frequency locations such as railway stations and airports offer promising potential for cashierless store concepts”.
Different concepts and technologies
Lekkerland now operates 18 smart stores in car parks, hospitals and office buildings across Germany. The concepts differ in terms of technologies and shopping concepts used. The camera-based solution from AiFi has been deployed at the Kamen fast-charging car park. Lekkerland calls this concept ‘Smart BOX’. The Retail Optimiser reported. Under its project name ‘Smart Automat’, the company uses technology from Paderborn-based provider Latebird at fast-charging parks in Bispingen and Rostock.
Lekkerland also operates several mini stores equipped with self-checkouts in semi-public areas such as hospitals. Here, customers still must scan. For this ‘Smart Kiosk’ concept, AI-based camera technology Captana from Vusion Group monitors availability of goods on the shelves.
