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New technologies drive growth in retailing

26.10.2004

New technologies drive growth in retailing

The METRO Group will be presenting its visions for the future of retailing at the German Retail Convention (Deutscher Handelskongress) on October 26-27, 2004 in Berlin. In presentations and workshops, representatives of the Group and its partner companies will discuss current topics and technological developments from the METRO Group Future Store Initiative. The core project in the Initiative is the Future Store in Rheinberg, Germany. The presentation of this workshop of the future will be one of the highlights of the Retail World 2004 trade fair, which will take place parallel to the Retail Convention in the Estrel Convention Center in Berlin.

RFID – A key technology in retailing

"The growth strategies of tomorrow – what can new technologies achieve?" This is the question that Zygmunt Mierdorf, Member of the Management Board of METRO Group, will explore in his opening speech at the German Retail Convention. Mierdorf will explain the growth concept of the world's fourth-largest trading group. The use of innovative technologies, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), plays a central role here. In various workshops, representatives of the METRO Group Future Store Initiative will demonstrate the advantages of RFID for industry, trade and customers, and they will report on their first practical experiences with the new technology.

A future you can touch

For the first time ever, the Retail World 2004 trade fair will take place parallel to the retail convention. Here, too, the focus will be on the topic of RFID. At its trade fair stand, the METRO Group Future Store Initiative will reproduce the entire process chain in retail logistics: from the manufacturer, to the warehouse of the logistics service provider, to the retailer. Among other things, there will be demonstrations of RFID transponders – the so-called Smart Chips – as well as RFID reading devices and the corresponding IT infrastructure for incoming and outgoing goods. Visitors will be able to try out many of the applications themselves.

Some technical innovations from the METRO Group Future Store Initiative will also be presented, such as the Future Check-Out and the De-Activator. With these, customers take their shopping through a security gate, and the Smart Chips on the items in their shopping basket are registered by RFID and displayed on the payment terminal. Customers pay for their shopping with cash or a credit card, and they then have the option of deactivating the Smart Chips on the goods they have purchased. The customers pass through a second gate – and the Smart Chips selected by the customer are automatically deactivated. The Electronic Product Codes (EPC) stored on the chips can then no longer be read.

Extensive information on RFID

In addition to vivid practical demonstrations, the trade fair stand of the METRO Group Future Store Initiative will also provide background information on RFID technology to professionals who visit the stand. For example, the METRO Group RFID Innovation Center in Neuss, Germany, will be introduced. This center acts as an information and development platform for the Group's partners in retail, industry and IT. Under real conditions, the Innovation Center demonstrates how RFID can change workflows in five different areas: picking, warehouse management, department store, supermarket and the private household of the future.

Facts & figures on the presentation of the METRO Group Future Store Initiative at the Retail Convention 2004

The trade fair stand

• Size: around 1,000 square meters
• Participating partners: METRO Group, Microsoft, Siemens, Cisco Systems, Pironet NDH, Wincor Nixdorf, Intermec, Chep Germany, Symbol, DHL Solutions, Checkpoint Systems, Sato Germany

The concept

Three different areas will be presented:

• Comfort Shopping: This will introduce technologies which make shopping simpler and more convenient for customers, such as the Intelligent Scale and the Everywhere Display.
• Fast & Easy Check-out: Intelligent check-out systems – including the self check-out – are the focus of this area.
• Inventory Management: This area will show how retail and industry can make the process chain more efficient through modern technology. Exhibits here will include the Smart Shelf and the Smart Chip Terminal.

Additional information on the presentation of the METRO Group Future Store Initiative can be found on the Internet at www.future-store.org.

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