Tegut is testing to sell an assortement of 800 articles around the clock. As Lebensmittel Zeitung has reported first, the first 40 square metre mini format has opened on the company campus in Fulda, initially exclusively for Tegut employees. Further stores of the T-Box concept are planned to open in autumn.
The subsidiary of Migros Zurich relies on Wanzl for the overall concept, access control and anti-theft protection. The Leipheim-based store experts had presented the unmanned sales box for the first time at this year’s Euroshop. When it comes to checkout, Tegut relies on a combination of the self-scanning solution from Snabble and self-checkout terminals from Pan Oston, which run on the Snabble platform.
Customers must register in a Tegut app, which identifies them at the Wanzl entrance terminal with a QR code and gains them access to the store.
The selected goods can be scanned and paid for in various ways: Either customers can scan the barcode on the goods or on the shelf labels directly via the app with their smartphone. Payment can also be made directly by credit card stored in the app. Alternatively, customers can scan the goods at the Pan Oston self-checkout terminals and pay with their Girocard.
Clever technology controls cigarette dispensing
As the Retail Optimiser learned, a smart solution was found for the sale of cigarettes: The Tobaccoland vending machine in Tegut’s T-Box is linked to the app via an interface, checking the shopper’s age and dispensing the selected goods only after payment.
With the help of the app, cameras and motion detectors, Tegut can collect real-time data on the number of people in the store, the current shopping basket and insights into the use of the various self-scanning options and payment methods. The data collected by the app helps to track changes in shopping behaviour over time and to shape future strategies.
In Switzerland, the home country of Tegut’s parent company Migros, the retail company Valora is testing automated micro-stores with its Avec-Box. In Germany, alongside Tegut, Bünting’s Combi has also launched its own solution, which sells fully automated via a terminal.
Even automated stores need manpower
Tegut considers the concept to have the potential for cost-optimised expansion to new locations in its home region of Hesse and Thuringia. The focus is on locations on educational campuses, hotels or in rural areas where large markets would not be profitable. The T-Box also makes it easier to try out and operate expansion beyond the core area to Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria with a manageable financial investment from Tegut.
In the first pilot store on the campus of Tegut’s headquarters in Fulda, fresh convenience is operated by employees of the Tegut canteen. A roll-out of this store concept to new locations within and outside the Tegut main distribution area will require a sustainable logistics and personnel deployment concept.
