AiFi

For a long time, it was the taboo subject number one in the retail technology industry. Whether Amazon, Tesco, Aldi Nord, Aldi Süd or Rewe Group: nobody wanted to talk about the question of how much manual intervention in low-wage countries is involved in the shopping processes in their scanless stores. Now it's suddenly in the public media: Has Amazon…

Lekkerland has deployed its so-called 'Smart Shop' concept in live operation for the first time. In the newly opened Rewe Ready container store at the EnBW loading park in Lichtenau, near Chemnitz in the German federal state of Saxony, the Rewe Group company implemented smart fridges from Portuguese specialist Reckon.ai.

Aldi Süd is testing the use of a technology that makes the scanning of goods obsolete for the first time in the USA. However, for its Aldi Go store in the city of Aurora near Chicago in the US state of Illinois, the discount giant is not relying on AiFi technology to automatically recognise purchases, as in London, but on…

Four grocery retail giants are currently working together to find innovations in the field of retail technology with their Disrupt Retail initiative. Disrupt Retail was first launched in 2017 by Portuguese grocery retail market leader MC Sonae, which owns the Continente distribution lines, as a call for technology start-ups.

Aldi Süd is now also allowing customers at its scanless Shop&Go store in London’s Greenwich district to shop without using the app. To enter the store shoppers can now also scan their payment card at the entrance.

The Polish market leader for convenience stores Żabka has opened its first hybrid store, Żabka Non Stop. From 6:00 am to 11:00 pm, the store is operated in a traditional manned manner, with customers being able to pay either at a normal checkout or at a self-checkout terminal. From 11:00 pm to 6:00 am, shopping is unmanned with autonomous checkout…

Wholesaler Lekkerland, which is part of Rewe Group, is adding smart fridges from Portuguese specialist Reckon.ai to its portfolio of smart store solutions …

Auchan Polska has opened its first autonomous mini-store in Warsaw under the banner name Auchan Go. The store's technology is provided by Trigo. The fact that shoppers only register at the entrance terminal with a common bank card and their phone number instead of having to identify themselves via a retailer app and QR codes is new for the Israeli…

At Berlin's Ostbahnhof station, DB Station&Service AG has opened a checkoutless store as a 24/7 ServiceStore with technology from Californian Grab&Go specialist AiFi. Cameras on the ceiling and sensors in the shelves of the 40 square metre store replace scanning completely. It is the first publicly accessible AiFi store in Germany.

Rewe Group's Lithuanian sales division Iki is opening more autonomous convenience stores this year, which are open around the clock. As with the first scanless store, which Iki Lietuva opened in Vilnius last year under the name Iki Express 24/4, the retailer is relying on technology from Lithuanian technology provider Pixevia. According to Pixevia, customers receive the entire item list…