An all-around convincing performance by this year’s EuroCIS

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/5

The trade show closed its gates on 29 February and over 13,500 visitors from 95 countries and more than 475 exhibitors from 41 countries had come to the Düsseldorf exhibition centre, to learn about and discuss the latest emerging innovation and technology trends in retail. The main theme of this year’s EuroCIS was the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in different areas.

Az EuroCIS 2024 mint vezető kiskereskedelmi technológiai szakvásár február végén 41 országból több mint 475 kiállító részvételével került megrendezésre Düsseldorfban

From AI to smart energy management

EuroCIS was organised around 6 main themes.

– AI was discussed, which can be used to optimise retail operations based on real-time information;

– Ideal payment experience, with smartphone payments, scan&go options and mobile payments at the point of sale gaining ground.

– A customer-centred approach is now widespread: retailers are increasingly looking to engage directly with consumers to offer them personalised digital experiences.

– Connected retail has brought a significant upturn in omnichannel strategies and tools, e.g. services such as click&collect and digital loyalty programmes.

– Tomorrow’s store is the seamless store, with scan&go, advanced sensor technology and image recognition, enabling seamless shopping.

– Intelligent energy management: lighting, cooling, heating or ventilation – the use of smart monitoring devices and dashboards can help reduce energy consumption and operating costs.

Top technological innovations

One of the highlights of EuroCIS was the reta awards ceremony, where for the 17th time this year EHI rewarded the three best technology solutions in retail, in five categories. Plus EHI and Lebensmittel Zeitung awarded the “Top Supplier Retail” title to the technology partners of the reta award winners. The next EuroCIS will take place in Düsseldorf on 18-20 February 2025. //

2024 reta awards winners by category

1. Best customer experience

Eintracht Frankfurt (Top Supplier: Payfree): football club Eintracht Frankfurt has opened the first cashierless fan shop of the German football league. The 30m² store offers seamless card and smartphone payment.

Netto Marken-Discount (Top Supplier: Wanzl): Netto Marken-Discount has introduced a new shopping cart system in line with the cashless shopping trend. Shoppers can unlock their trolleys using an app and NFC technology.

Tegut (Top Supplier: Autonomo, Snabble): Tegut is redefining grocery shopping in Germany with its smart store “Teo”. The shop offers round-the-clock access to groceries – whether in rural areas, busy locations or urban neighbourhoods.

2. Best enterprise solution

Rewe Group (Top Supplier: Flip): the Rewe Group has introduced a new application for its retail employees that enables direct communication between store managers, store employees and head offices across Germany.

Schwarz IT (Top Supplier: Things Board): with the IoT.Schwarz platform, the Schwarz Group tackles the complexity of diverse technical equipment in supermarkets. Schwarz IT relies on the proven ThingsBoard platform.

Würth (Top Supplier: Würth IT): Würth has developed the Pico voice and chat assistant to speed up important sales processes. The digital assistant enables users to receive real-time requests for information and documents.

3. Best in-store solution

Douglas (Top Supplier: Komsa Services and Samsung Electronics): Douglas improves in-store processes by introducing all-in-one smartphones and complementary software. The integration of omnichannel services ensures a seamless operation on the shop floor.

E-Center Warnow Park (Top Supplier: Captana): E-Center Warnow Park – the biggest Edeka store in northern Germany – has implemented a user-friendly shelf camera solution to increase operational efficiency.

Leroy Merlin (Top Supplier: Hanshow): to help its customers navigate and find products in the large DIY stores, Leroy Merlin France set out to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds.

4. Best connected retail solution

Benetton (Top Supplier: Cegid): the Benetton Group has perfected the in-store experience by implementing Cegid Retail, a cloud-native POS and unified commerce platform. The new solution helped to unify sales channels, optimise stock and personalise brand interactions.

Edeka Südwest (Top Supplier: Liquam, Avenit, Blackforestbytes and Maexware Solutions): the Edeka Group in southwest Germany has developed a store ecosystem that covers various multichannel e-commerce operations for independent retailers.

Markant (Top Supplier: adesso): the European platform launched by Markant serves as a central point of contact to bundle and manage the daily challenges faced by pre-suppliers, industry, service providers and retailers across the entire value chain.

5. Best AI and robotics application

Colruyt (Top Supplier: Colruyt Group Smart Technics): the Colruyt Lowest Prices store in Halle introduced an innovative, simple checkout system that uses AI technology to automatically scan products as workers transfer them from one shopping cart to another.

dm-Drogeriemarkt & dm TECH (Top Supplier: Ubica Robotics): autonomous shelf-scanning robots use advanced cameras and sensors to create accurate, efficient and cost-effective digital store twins for dm.

Kaufland (Top Supplier: BSS Bohnenberg): Kaufland’s automated order picking system (AKA) makes preparations for semi-automatic processes. The system focuses on reducing staff workload, fast access to goods by customers, reliability and scalability.