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Visions for the Future of Retailing

14.05.2003

Visions for the Future of Retailing

Berlin, May 14, 2003 – The METRO Group Future Store Initiative is showing its concepts and visions for the future of the retailing industry at the ECR Europe Conference in Berlin from May 13 to 15, 2003. The comprehensive presentation is one of the highlights of this year’s Conference. The ECR Europe Conference as the most important event of its kind worldwide is dedicated to the efficient interaction of the consumer goods industry and the retailing sector as well as customer-oriented technological innovations. At the center of the presentation of the METRO Group Future Store Initiative is the Future Lab where future technologies for the retailing industry are shown.

Partners of the Initiative are among the world’s fifth largest retailing enterprise METRO Group, the worldwide largest producer of microprocessors Intel and the globally leading provider of business software solutions SAP another nearly 40 companies from the IT, services and consumer goods industries. The objective of the Initiative is to actively shape the future of retailing and advance the modernization of this industry on a national and an international scale.
 

"The METRO Group Future Store Initiative underlines the leading role of our enterprise as a driving force for innovations in retailing", says Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber, Chairman and CEO of the METRO AG, in Berlin. "Together with high-performing partners, we are presenting at the ECR Europe Conference to an international expert public what our vision of retailing in future is. We demonstrate the application of the most advanced technologies at all stages of the value chain – an important element in the consistent optimization of our selling concepts."

A significant component of the presentation at the ECR Europe Conference is the technology of the recently opened Future Store of the METRO Group in Rheinberg. In this worldwide unique convenience store of the future the latest applications for retailing are for the first time linked with one another in complex interaction. The innovations encompass wireless data transfer, an intelligent scale which automatically recognizes and weighs fresh produce, electronic shelf labeling, automatic self check-out systems and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

RFID is the basic technology for electronic control of merchandize management. It allows to read without contacting, data from computer chips which are equipped with a mini antenna. Merchandize with RFID tags can be located at any time throughout the entire logistics chain – from production through transportation to the point of sale.
 

"From the beginning, one of our main goals for this project was to prove in a real world shopping environment how cutting-edge technology enables innovative business processes," says Dr. Peter Zencke, member of the SAP Executive Board. "The Future Store is a clear example that technology can be a driving force behind business – it impacts manufacturers and retailers as well as the customer. Together with our partners we see this technology as an opportunity to enter a new era of cooperation in the retail and consumer products industries, an era that is now tangible with this unique project."

Jon C. Stine, Global Strategic Marketing of Intel Corporation, adds: "Intel architecture and communications products help form the foundation of the Future Store project. This provides the compute power necessary to track and process the massive amount of real-time consumer and inventory data generated by RFID and the Electronic Product Code standard. The net result will be tremendous efficiency and visibility across the retail supply chain as well as an enhanced consumer experience."
 

"The METRO Group Future Store Initiative is a worldwide unique innovation workshop which is developing the shopping of the future," comments Zygmunt Mierdorf, Member of the Management Board of the METRO AG. "Customers and retailers benefit alike from the new technologies: the customers are more satisfied because the goods are available more reliably, the service is more individualized and the shopping comfort increases. This will boost retail sales. At the same time, retailers can curb costs because processes are becoming more efficient."

In the Future Lab in Berlin, visitors are able to test by themselves the technological systems in practice. The presentation is to arouse the interest of the international expert public and encourage further companies to take part in the METRO Group Future Store Initiative and the development of the retailing business of the future.

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