Future Store for the fifth time

International trade fair SIRHA Budapest took place between 7 and 9 February. Trade magazine built a 500m² shop, called Future Store, where never before seen technologies and FMCG innovations were presented. Visitors had the chance to look around the store in the form of guided tours. 

The tour started with Opel, whose Business Class service offers tailor-made solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises in both purchasing vehicles and maintenance and repair. Partners can call their personal sales and maintenance consultant directly. They deal with any vehicle problem without having to wait more than 120 minutes.

At the entrance of the store there was a TOMRA reverse vending machine from Wanzl. The T9 model is equipped with a 360-degree camera system, and the recognition technology makes it possible to identify any shape, so the machine can be used to return bottles with a deposit on them, PET bottles, cans and bottles without a deposit. These days automatic doors are very important in modern buildings. It is needless to say that visitors could enter the Future Store through these! Horizontally opening automatic doors, provided by record Door – the Hungarian representative of Swiss company record – can increase security and make the entrance comfortable and stylish.

‘Shoppers’ entered the store through the Wanzl eGate entrance and exit system, which guarantees that customers can pass through uninterrupted, at the same time controlling the entrance zone and calling attention to irregular shopper behaviour. Swivel arms open automatically thanks to the sensor that is integrated into the system, and many types of alarm functions can be set, e.g. if the customer wants to exit the store here. The new generation of Wanzl Salsa plastic shopping trolleys have an innovative design and they run very silently, without making that metallic noise. Salsa shopping trolleys can be ordered in 95- and 150-litre versions, and from the middle of the year a 200-litre size will also be available.

Szintézis has brought one of the biggest retail innovations of last year to the Future Store. Pricer electronic shelf labels utilise military technology that makes two-way communication possible. Combining this with Pricer’s triangulation method, the solution is able to locate individual labels in-store, so it basically shows where certain products are displayed. The innovative shelf labels were mounted on the Wanzl YourTable Cool system, on which one of the products displayed was Eisberg’s new Green Drink salad mix. In this new mix we find washed and chopped Romaine, carrot, kale, rucola and baby spinach leaves. Shoppers can make an infinite number of smoothies from Green Drink! Wanzl YourTable Cool is the most stylish way of presenting cooled convenience products. This presentation table has a wide range of accessories, which can be used to present products that don’t require cooling. Bizerba’s self-service fruit and vegetable scales was placed next to Your Tabe Cool. It can put products into groups automatically. What is new about the design is that it takes away no space from the products on the counter, because the scales stands on its own, so it uses little space.

The next 3 stops in the guided tour were presenting new fresh products. Pek-Snack has 70 products in its portfolio, mini and maxi products, pizza slices, fried bread slices, muffins, donuts, etc. Their latest innovation is the Fitt product range that is perfectly in line with today’s modern lifestyle. Pek-Snack’s products were presented on the Wanzl BakeOff baked goods display system. The modular system facilitates attractive and intensive product presentation. LED lighting guarantees that the products are presented in an impressive fashion. Modular units have 3 doors that open individually, and just like a garage door they slide into the shelf when open. Also in this section visitors could see Bizerba’s self-service bread slicer. Everyone can set the slice width and the cutting speed on this stylish bread slicer.

In Fino-Food’s dairy product refrigerator visitors found the products of the Fino+ product range – these dairy products contain 30 percent extra protein and have created a new category in the market. This extra 30 percent protein in the products greatly contributes to one’s recommended daily protein intake. Future Store’s fresh product selection didn’t lack delicious meat products either. ZIMBO products have a practical and eye-catching packaging. Packaging innovations such as Freshbox make it possible for ZIMBO products to be opened and closed very easily. The products preserve their special flavour and scent, and the packaging also makes sure that ZIMBO meat products – salamis and sausages, red meat products and cold cuts, snacks and grill products – always appear fresh on the table.

Next tour participants in the Future Store moved on to the non-food product section. Essity (formerly SCA) and its premium quality brands need no introduction: Zewa – the market leader in the hygiene paper product category, Libero – a well-known name in the diaper market and Libresse – a top feminine hygiene brand. Each of these brands came to the Future Store with something new to show, e.g. Zewa’s premium, 5-ply toilet paper called Just1. Celebrating its 120th anniversary, Schwarzkopf reimagined the brand and they brought their new campaign – which started in February – to the Future Store. The campaign is called #createyourstyle and it celebrates individuals and confidence. The brand presented several new products in the Future Store, for instance new hair dye Pure Colour and the new premium hair care brand Beology.

Bizerba’s innovative deli counter system had many spectacular features. The digital in-store kiosk provides customers with all product information on its screen and printed on small sheets of paper. From the shelf labels displayed in the deli counter, with the help of a downloadable app visitors got access to extra information offered via augmented reality technology. The deli counter itself is equipped with PC-based scales. Bizerba’s new manual slicer has a CeraClean surface and it doesn’t simply cut products but weighs them as well.

It was in the Future Store that Wanzl Connect made its Hungarian debut. It is a software-based system that can help to control all the processes in a store centrally. The 3 pillars of the system are Customer Connect, Smart Trolley and Store Management. Customer Connect: by using an application the customer signs in and organises the shopping process the way they like it. Smart Trolley: shopping trolleys and baskets are equipped with RFID tags, so they not only carry products but also gather very important information for retailers. Store Management: the Wanzl Connect Store Manager system is a centralised platform that serves as the software-based information, communication and control centre of the store managers of the future.

After these technological innovations Future Store visitors had the opportunity to taste some of the latest foods and drink great wines. Canter Wine House is one of Europe’s most modern wineries, producing on 4,500m² in Zánka. Canter’s premium range is Magnus wines, which are rich in the fragrances and flavours that are characteristic of the grape variety, presenting the many faces and values of the Lake Balaton wine region. Canter wines were displayed in an attractive fashion using the Wanzl VinoTech system. This system can be mounted on the wall or form a gondola – it can even be turned into a gondola end. It presents wines at 3 levels.

NESTLÉ kindly refreshed visitors with NESCAFÉ® DolceGusto® coffees; while sipping, they could check out the latest product innovations. Basically all Nestlé brands have come to the Future Store with a new product. NESCAFÉ Gold and Gold Barista offer a premium coffee experience. Those who prefer decaf coffee can choose NESCAFÉ Gold Decaf, and the new member of the family is NESCAFÉ Azera.

In the last few years the sugar content of NESQUIK chocolate drink powder was reduced by more than 50 percent, the product contains no sweetener, it is an excellent source of fibre and it is gluten-free. A new product range was put on the market under the BALATON brand: BALATON Újhullám is available in 4 flavours, with a youthful and more modern packaging design. There was a revolutionary innovation too: Nestlé is the first company in the world to market ruby-coloured chocolate: KitKat Chocolatory Sublime Ruby. New MAGGI tomato sauces give dishes a real Mediterranean flavour. Nestlé’s Purina brand could also be found in the Future Store: the new product in the range is Beyond pet food. Beyond products don’t contain added wheat, they are made from a combination of wholemeal barley, oat and rice.

Every MARS Hungary brand was present on the shelves of the Future Store. Uncle Ben’s launched a special innovation: Ready-to-heat rice products. This innovation fits very well into today’s rapid pace of life, because the product can be prepared quickly, it is very tasty and it is made from natural ingredients. The new product is available in 5 flavours. In January the company put the Bites product range on the market in 3 versions, under the Snickers, Twix and Mars brands. ‘The perfect in-store implementation’ concept has been created for Orbit and Airwaves products. In the pet food category the company focuses on premium products. Innovative Perfect Fit dog foods are going to be introduced this year.

Coca-Cola brought many new innovations to the Future Store this year as well. Coca-Cola’s low sugar and no sugar product selection keeps growing. As part of the zero sugar product line they now market Fantazero and Spritezero too, in addition to the popular versions of Coca-Cola. This year two new innovations will debut, Coca-Cola zero Lemon and caffeine-free Coca-Cola zero. The company proudly presented SMARTWATER, an exciting and innovative premium water that is guaranteed to cause a sensation in the market. Lavazza coffees were also there in the shop as part of the Coca-Cola family.

At the end of the guided tour the group approached the checkout. Bizerba’s SuperSmart cash register is a Scan&Shop solution which can reduce a shop’s need for cashiers significantly: when they finished shopping, the customer arrives at the visual control terminal with their shopping basket or trolley. This tries to compare the products scanned previously with the products recognised by the visual control terminal, and with the weights measured by the scales. If the system detects no mismatch, the customer can move on to the cash register and the list of products is also sent there. The customer can pay without having to take the products out of the basket/trolley and leave the store.

Laurel brought its self-service checkout system to the Future Store. Also in the checkout zone the company showcased the Vocovo headset system. It is a special solution that makes it possible for more people to communicate with each other at the same time. Users can communicate continuously with 8-10 or up to 30 colleagues in-store. The company’s Ultinous technology is an advanced video analytics solutions for in-store use. The system can be used to monitor and evaluate the movements and actions of customers in real time. //