Schwarz Group

For the 16th time, EHI Retail Institute this week announced the winners of the Retail Technology Awards Reta. The eight-member international jury of the award includes Retail Optimiser editors Björn Weber and Joachim Pinhammer as well as the publisher of the British trade magazine Retail Technology, Miya Knights.

At its Neckarsulm headquarters, Kaufland is testing the smart logistics solution from Heidelberg-based start-up HyPrint for monitoring the cold chain. Smart, self-adhesive labels are used to gain insights into the temperature course in the cold storage rooms.

It is the largest POS software project in Europe to date: Lidl has once again chosen GK and will roll-out the Cloud4Retail platform of the Schöneck specialists in all 30 countries over the next few years. The largest banner operation of the European retail sector is thus enabling to operate the checkouts in the cloud and is simplifying the development…

Lidl is now also introducing self-checkouts in Germany. With Swiss hardware specialist 4POS and its software supplier GK, Lidl is embarking on a platform strategy using the same standard components as at its attended checkouts. Cash payment is possible at all devices: thanks to cash recyclers from Glory.

Japan's Aeon Group will open an autonomous supermarket in Tokyo this summer. A store of its Daiei sales line in the Koto district will be equipped with camera and sensor technology from Chinese start-up Cloudpick.

Tests in some stores and even framework agreements with technology suppliers are not yet proof that electronic labels will soon be seen in all stores. Retailers will only achieve a rapid ROI if they use the labels to react more dynamically to market developments with intelligent price optimisation solutions, to optimise in-store processes or to offer customers significant additional benefits.

Whether they like it or not: German grocery retailers cannot avoid e-commerce. Amazon is not letting up. For the likes of Edeka, Rewe and Schwarz Group, it is worth looking at the French market. Through innovative concepts and investments into technology, companies such as Groupe Casino and E.Leclerc are confidently securing their business against Amazon.

Kaufland is introducing self-scanning with customers' smartphones in its shops in the Czech Republic. Software partners are the Dutch specialists of Re-Vision.