Lidl

Aldi Nord is piloting a customer loyalty programme for the first time. Users of the Aldi app can collect bonus points in 70 of the discounter's stores in Belgium. The application was developed together with software specialist GK.

In one of the largest technology projects in Europe, Aldi Nord has built a completely new SAP-based merchandise management IT system in the cloud under the decisive influence of Accenture consultants. However, the conversion of the first pilot region was anything but a success: the inventory record in the system no longer worked in the Dutch region Culemborg, resulting in…

While Lidl has already implemented the new self-checkouts throughout Romania, the major roll-out in Germany, as well as in other countries such as Spain and Italy, will apparently start in Lidl's next financial year, which begins in March and ends in February 2025.

Food waste is a major problem. In Germany alone, 11 million tonnes of food ended up being thrown away in 2020, according to the National Statistics Office. Of this, 7 per cent (0.8 million tonnes) came from the retail sector. To combat food waste, 14 major German wholesale and grocery retailers signed an agreement with the Federal Ministry of Food…

Lidl trials self-checkout terminals from Swiss hardware specialist 4POS in a store in Lingolsheim, France. Half of the six self-service terminals are equipped with cash modules from Glory and offer shoppers the opportunity to pay in cash. Lidl relies on software from GK for the self-checkouts, just as for the attended checkouts. The hardware components for the self-service terminals are…

Schwarz Group is investing in German AI start-up Aleph Alpha. The key technology is intended to help optimise processes in all areas of the group. The investors wish to become independent of US players and comply with European data protection standards.

According to the latest report by RBR Data Services, now part of Datos Insights, nearly 200,000 self-checkout devices were shipped worldwide last year. By 2028, the analysts expect the number of global installations to exceed 1.9 million. NCR remains the largest player in the market with one-third of the shipments – and even increased its market share by one percentage…

US convenience store operator Casey's General Stores will use Relex Solutions to optimise inventory, demand planning and space planning.

Germany's largest retail organisation, Edeka Group, will optimise the orders and stocks of all its stores and distribution centres with the AI-based software platform of Relex. The decision represents a Copernican shift in the Edeka Group's IT strategy. Until now, the German retail giant has managed its inventory management systems exclusively with SAP and SAP partner solutions.

Retailers are increasingly turning to cash handling automation. According to a recent study by British analyst group RBR, the number of cash handling systems installed in retailers' stores increased by more than 20 per cent between the end of 2019 and 2022, to more than 900,000 devices worldwide.