Smart Stores 24/7 – The Future of a Niche

A syreta travel report

Since 2013, Prof. Dr. Rüschen has been working at DHBW in Heilbronn as a professor of food retail and as the head of the study program. Through his extensive research in the field of Smart Stores in German and European retail, he has developed into a true expert in this area.

In March 2021, the two Smart Stores "shop.box" and "collect.box" were opened at the educational campus of the Duale Hochschule. Unsurprisingly, these two stores are supervised by Prof. Dr. Rüschen together with a research associate, Julia Schumacher. On one hand, the stores serve the catering needs of students and faculty, but on the other hand, they are also regularly incorporated into ongoing teaching as part of an integration seminar. This allows students to conduct practical research in areas such as assortment optimization, marketing, customer satisfaction, or price comparison and acquire new knowledge.

Since syreta uni retail technology gmbh was also able to look back on numerous innovative projects last year, such as various UNIBoxes, the EDEKA Smart Box on the Baltic Sea, or the Nah & Frisch Hybridstore, the responsible parties met for a discussion on the future development of the Smart Store concept. At the same time, the opportunity was also used to visit various Smart Stores in the Heilbronn and Stuttgart area to review future target markets and market feasibility on-site.

An informative day

The most important insights from the get-together of Smart Store experts can be summarized as follows: the stores function partly through the most diverse technology concepts, and the distinction between rural and urban areas plays a significant role in the use of Smart Stores. The future Smartstore must be very closely aligned geographically and demographically, and a standard assortment alone will not be sufficient for this niche, with the associated logistical optimization being a challenge for all operators. Additionally, autonomous stores have not yet been fully implemented without staff in all concepts. The main reason for this is the frequency of theft in stores in particularly exposed locations.

We at syreta will use the newly gained insights to further improve our own products and already look forward to another exchange with Prof. Dr. Rüschen – thank you again for the invitation to Heilbronn!

More information about Prof. Dr. Stephan Rüschen can be found on his homepage: https://www.stephan-rueschen.de/