Magazine: Future Store: More visitors than ever before

Trade magazin first built its 150m² Future Store 10 years ago. This year at Sirha Budapest 2020 no less than 25 partners already introduced their products and services on 650m², to more than 1,000 visitors. The majority of products, retail technology solutions and services showcased there could be seen in Hungary for the first time. The Future Store used the combination of three concepts to present retail trends. Number one was the unmanned store, number two was the combined presence and operation of online shops and offline stores, and number three was the traditional brick-and-mortar store with the focus on the shopping experience.

Before entering the store

Visitors could go around the store with a guided tour – 35 of them per group. The walk started outside the shop, where – according to the concept – they arrived in a Tesla X model. Mercarius Fleet management brought the car, which employs nearly 100 people and currently operates a fleet of more than 5,000 vehicles. The company is a dedicated supporter of eco-friendly, sustainable corporate mobility and electromobility.

In the future the shopping experience starts already outside, so the Future Store had a 6m demo LED wall in the shop window, which was installed by AV Advice. The special LED wall is ultra-light and consists of 1 metre panels, so that any size combination can be made. One of the LED wall’s most important features is that it is 80 percent transparent!

Having enough workers is a major challenge for store managers these days. Amazon Go and container stores don’t have this problem because everything is automated there. Digitális Reklám brought its interactive, digital communication solutions to the store of the future, in the form of many different-size digital screens. Some of these offer remotely controlled advertising space to shop owners, in both outdoor and indoor formats. The company’s latest, sensor-driven system was also presented: a kiosk that identifies shoppers with the help of their mobile phones, and thanks to this the customers can enter the store.

Swiss company AGTA record is the 100 percent owner of record Ajtó Kft. record Ajtó presented three models in the Future store: at the entrance visitors could see the Record Telescopic Sliding Door, halfway through the tour the Record Folding Door offered a perfect alternative for narrow spaces and at the exit visitors could leave the store through the Record Angled Sliding Door.

Inside the store: Entrance zone and fresh products

In the store of the future shoppers could enter through the Wanzl eGate automatic entrance and exit system, but inside they could listen to information about its latest version, Galaxy Gate, which can be used in unmanned stores too. Wanzl also presented the new innovation Evo-Grip, thanks to which classic shopping trolleys get a unique look.

Everybody thinks of Pricer shelf labels when they hear the name of Szintézis, but the company also offers a solution for locating products in-store. Pricer labels use two-way optical wireless communication, and they send feedback on their status and contents. The technology can cover an area of 150m² and the communication speed of the shelf label is less than 1 second. By using the map-based navigation and product finder kiosk, shoppers or store staff can locate products.

Right at the entrance there was a fruit and vegetable section in the Future Store, where the products were presented on Wanzl shop furniture. Wanzl Your Table Cool includes an open refrigerator where products can be kept between 1°C and 5°C. This model can be loaded from two sides and is perfect for presenting different types of groceries, facilitating a quicker shopping.

The vegetables which were displayed here were provided by Prémium kert. The pre-packed ones were protected by eco-friendly recycled plastic wrap.

As for the Bizerba scales installed here, they featured the company’s Fraud Prevention app that helps retailers at self-service scales by taking a photo of the product measured. This photo, together with text information, is displayed on the screen of the scales, and transmitted to the database of the checkout.

Fresh&Go is the new brand of Prémium kert: fruits and vegetables that can be pressed arrive in stores prepared and pre-weighed for pressing. Each package contains just as much prepared fruit and vegetable from which 400ml of freshly pressed juice can be made. All you need to do is open the bag, put the fruits and veggies in the pressing machine and the fresh juice is ready in just a few seconds.

The next stop in the tour was Bizerba’s innovative kiosk, a multifunctional device that shoppers can use to order fresh products from the deli counter in-store. The kiosk sends the orders to the scales of the relevant departments (deli, meat, cheese etc.), where shop assistants prepare the order and mark it with an identification number before handing it over to the customer.

Szintézis was also present in the Future Store with the SCO self-checkout system. The system of pre-paying represents a new generation of self-checkouts. Upon arrival, close to the entrance you can mark the product that you would like to buy and pay it instantly. Then you collect the item together with the receipt and continue shopping.

This was the first time that a robot was showcased in the Future Store. Hungary’s most popular multi-partner loyalty programme, SuperShop is using the humanoid robot SuperPepper to inform shoppers in-store – and not only in the store of the future but in selected Spar and Interspar stores, OMV filling stations, Best Byte stores and Régió Toy shops.

Moving on to the next stop in the tour, visitors reached the WanzlBakeOff system, which consists of modules for displaying packaged bakery items, chilled products and products that need to be kept warm. The shelves can be filled with baked goods both from the front and the back, and different positions can be set for the shelves.

Inside the store: Innovative products and sustainability

On the WanzlBakeOff display visitors could see the 4 very special new products by the Ceres brand. The new product range supports a balanced and conscious diet. It contains a 500g Bavarian Rye Loaf, Fitt Oatmeal Bars, Evening Bread and the 350g Rhodes Loaf.

Zimbo’s latest innovations aren’t from the ham category, but from the Bologna and wiener segments. Having studied the latest consumption trends, Zimbo has developed its new E-number free product range, focusing on three product groups: pork Bologna sausage, peeled pork wiener and seasonal grill sausage. The products are gluten-, soy- and lactose-free, and they don’t contain added nitrates either.

When tour participants tasted some delicious meat products, wholesaler Mediline presented another product category to the store’s visitors: Koko dairy-free cheese alternatives and coconutgurts, which are 100 percent plant-based and are made of freshly picked coconuts. These coconut milk based products are dairy-, lactose- and gluten-free, and they don’t contain artificial flavouring agents, preservatives or colours either. Mediline also introduced its own franchise network of Diéta Life Market stores.

Szamos Marzipan’s development efforts have improved the quality of product packaging and the company’s productivity rate, making an old dream of Szamos come true: putting high-quality chocolates on the market in tablet form. The majority of the 7 product variants visitors could see in the Future Store recalled the taste of iconic cakes and the marzipan, thanks to the original ingredients being used. Brand new product Praline Heart Dessert debuted here, too.

It is needless to say that Nestlé’s brands could also be found on the shelves of the Future Store, for instance, All Natural, the first chocolate drink mix from the company that contains 100 percent natural ingredients and has no added sugar. The product is marketed in 100 percent recyclable paper packaging. Maggi also put Kaszotto and Risotto products on the market this spring. These stand-alone in the Hungarian market, each product consists of a bag of fibre-rich cereal or rice and a bag of tasty vegetable sauce. It just takes 30 minutes to prepare them.

After so many product presentations, visitors had the opportunity to learn a bit about the latest innovation directions in packaging. Paper and a very thin layer of corn starch: this is the secret behind the eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging materials and offering items for retail and HoReCa use that Organicpack makes. Organicpack can apply the world’s thinnest PLA layer to paper. This way they can make eco-friendly, water-, oil- and fat-resistant 40-60g paper, which can be in direct contact with food products.

Bizerba’s deli counter is a constant feature in Future Store. The scales built into the counter have every function that fully PC-based scales have. There are extra features as well, such as tracking, in-store order taking and providing allergen information. The scales can be connected to a central control system that can modify the parameters of scales systems in several hundred stores, in just a few hours.

Szintézis also presented the CashKeeper system in the store of the future. CashKeeper is a very simple and useful system for shops where the same person serves the customers and manages cash payment. CashKeeper solves the hygiene problems arising from this situation and increases the safety of cash management. CashKeeper is most frequently used in ice cream parlours, bakeries, pharmacies, tobacco shops and grocery stores.

Coca-Cola came to the Future Store with the latest products from its portfolio. The portfolio is available to consumers following the 24/7 concept – this means the beverage company offers the perfect product for every meal and consumption occasion 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Cappy products are high-nutritional-value, exceptional quality fruit juices, nectars and fruit drinks. Low-calorie Fuzetea is a one of a kind, perfect fusion of fruit juice and medicinal herbs. The tea leaves come from sustainable farming in Kenya and Asian countries. Among energy drinks the most popular variant is the latest Monster Mango Loco.

There is one thing that always causes a problem in stores, and this is to have the shelves full of products at all times! Bizerba offers a solution to this problem with the ShelfMonitor scales system, which can easily be integrated into shelves, pallets or secondary placement displays. The system provides retailers with data about the loading status of these.

This year Stari Craft Beers debuted in the Future Store. The company is brewing beer in Tapolca, using its own recipes. There are 12 different Stari beers available at the moment, and these can be bought both as draught and bottled beer. In the store visitors also had the opportunity to see the StariMobileTruck, which won in the Pop-up Store category of the 2019 SuperStore competition.

Every other year Essity introduces its top new products in the Future Store. Libresse products have a new packaging. These are 100 percent recyclable and minimum 50 percent of the packaging of Libresse sanitary pads come from renewable sources. In the kitchen roll category, thanks to the new Power-X structure, the new products variants can absorb 50 percent more liquid. Zewa Quick Pack is the most innovative product in the new selection. It belongs to the very high absorption capacity Wisch und Weg product line.

The most dynamically growing segment of the beauty care market is veil masks, which started to conquer the world from South Korea, where they form part of the face care routine. Veil masks are fast and simple to use, and they have a really strong moisturising effect. Market leader L’Oréal plays a pioneering role in the category and has established the Mask Studio, where retailers can present the products efficiently offering shoppers a real experience and lots of information.

Henkel is one of those large corporations which have realised their own responsibility as regards product packaging, therefore the company is launching its new products in the spirit of sustainability. Part of the packaging of the latest Fa Ocean Passion shower gel is recycled plastic. Nature Box solid shampoo and solid shower gel have a vegan formula, they are free from artificial colours, and the packaging is 100 percent recycled and plastic-free. By the end of 2020 the Gliss Kur, Syoss and Nature Box brands will also get sustainable packaging designs.

Artmatch showcased its innovative cardboard and eco-friendly wood POS solutions, using displays as an example. Merchandisers need to spend a lot of time installing displays in-store. The company developed a solution that is almost automatic, one simple move is enough to open and close them. Another new technology by Artmatch is the active automatic shelf management system, which pushes various product categories to the front part of the shelves by using springs, slides and hidden pulling devices.

Inside the store: Logistics support and storage

This year a demo storage room was also built in the Future Store. In narrow spaces, corridors and at places that are too small for sliding doors, usually, the automated version of traditional doors is used. The Record Folding Door represents a perfect alternative to these. It operates silently, it is fast, reliable, stylish and convenient.

Wanzl is the distributor of the smart glove called ProGlove MARK 2, which was developed for supporting the automation of work processes in logistics. This device is basically a barcode scanner mounted on a glove. By putting it on, shop workers can use both of their hands for doing other things while scanning barcodes – up to 4 seconds of time can be saved with each scan. The device can be ordered in two versions, Palm Trigger and Index Trigger.

ICO is the biggest brand in the Hungarian stationery and office supplies market. In the Future Store the company was present with the latest EDDING mobile and handheld compact printers. This device is the perfect choice for industrial permanent marking, for printing barcodes and graphics on basically any surface. Thanks to its premium battery, the printer can be operated for up to 6 hours continuously.

Inside the store: Payment solutions

Having left the storage room, participants of the guided tour reached the checkout zone of the store. Bizerba showcased the only multi-level end control checkout system in the world. Before the payment several checks are performed, based on weight, camera footage, former purchases and buying habits, and Big Data: Scan&Shop uses these to tell whether there is a product in the basket that wasn’t scanned or was scanned only once but there are more. If everything is alright, the shopper can proceed to the payment point.

The self-checkout systems by Szintézis are combining Hungarian-made software and international hardware. They have been granted the approval of the Hungarian tax authorities. They are kiosk-type systems that accept cash and bank card too. The integrated scales have a control function and the scanner is also capable of capturing images. The system can be ordered in small and large sizes, and it not only accepts mobile payment at the checkout but also sends a verification barcode or QR code to the mobile phone of the customer, which the Wanzl Exit Gate recognises within a given period of time and opens the gate for the shopper.

Shoppers left the Future Store through this year’s most exciting door, the Record Angled Sliding Door.

Next time the Future Store will be open in 2022, and we hope that this year’s visitors will return for another tour! //