Future Store
The real, - Future Store was the name for a hypermarket of the Metro Group . It served to try out new technologies and concepts for retail in practice. It was located in Tönisvorst on the Lower Rhine and was opened on May 28, 2008. and closed again in 2013 The previous Future Store was stationed as an extra store in Rheinberg .
Features of the real, - Future Store
The technologies and processes to be tested included:
- Mobile shopping assistant (MEA): The MEA was a cell phone with special software. The customer scanned products with the mobile phone camera and the MEA then displayed current price information, for example. The MEA also helped to find products in the market and to create shopping lists. When the purchase was finished, the customer passed this on to the MEA at the push of a button. The cell phone displayed a barcode that was scanned in at one of the pay stations at the self-service checkouts. There the customer paid the value of the goods in cash, with a card or by fingerprint. The aim was a more efficient checkout process.
- Numbers by fingerprint: In the real, - Future Store the customer could pay for the purchase with his fingerprint. The customer had to register once for this service. Then he put his finger on a scanner to automatically initiate the payment by direct debit . In addition to the finger structure, the scanner also recorded temperature and surface tension.
- Intelligent freezer: RFID technology was used in the meat department to help with quality assurance. The meat products in the intelligent freezer were provided with so-called smart chips. For example, the freezer registered when products were removed. In this way, the in-house butcher's shop could produce as needed.
- new presentation designs e.g. B. for fresh produce.
history
On April 28, 2003, the first Future Store was opened as a future workshop in Rheinberg ( North Rhine-Westphalia ) . To enlarge the project and instead of a consumer market the new technology in a large hypermarket test, which was -Market - real, in Tönisvorst in the Lower Rhine in 2008 for the new Future Store rebuilt and opened on 28 May, 2008. After 4 years, however, the concept of the Future Store in Tönisvorst was discontinued because the contracts with the METRO Group expired.
criticism
Of the technologies used, the contact-free labels (so-called RFID chips) in particular were criticized, as they could be read after the purchase. The Metro Group responded with a terminal at the exit, the so-called de-activator, which made the labels unusable if the customer wanted it. The criticism of the privacy advocates could be questioned, however, since you would have to get up to 30 centimeters to the RFID chip in order to be able to read it, unless large reader antennas were used. (RFID chips with large transmission ranges are mainly used in production or wholesale, e.g. on car bodies or pallets.) Furthermore, the RFID tag only contained a number code, the so-called EPC (Electronic Product Code), which refers to the product References data in a database. In connection with electronic payment, it would be easier than before to see which customer has bought which product.
Another point of criticism was the loss of jobs, especially at the cash registers. It turned out, however, that the self-service checkouts are rather maintenance-intensive and the technical implementation requires frequent manual interventions. The subordinate services at self-service checkouts enable retailers to cut staff costs.
Web links
- Mobile Shopping Assistant (MEA) website
- Announcement about the opening of the Future Store in Rheinberg