Such will be the soon-to-be-opened, first remotely monitored, self-service store in Hungary

According to the plans, in early December, the first ones will be launched in active deployment at home self-service stores that are remotely monitored and operate without staff – learned Economx, the company developing the project, a Laurel Kft. about its executive. As Attila Bessenyei he said: he cannot reveal the exact store name and location for the time being, but the start itself and its date are definitely confirmed.

Until then, indoors the test operation is underway: for weeks, Laurel has been running a sample store in its headquarters in Székesfehérvár, for now only for the office’s employees. This self-service store, which later opened to the public as well it should mostly be imagined as a corner convenience store selling general products, which offers the range of a basic food and beverage vending machine, slightly expanded.

The soon-to-open self-service store, which is already available to the public, will operate as follows: the store with a floor area of ​​approximately 150-200 m² will operate during the day as usual, with unchanged opening hours. After closing, the night self-service shift startswhen registered customers can purchase everything in the same way with the help of technology.

The innovative purchase process is as follows four it will consist of steps:

1. The system creates the entry card, which generates a QR code: you can enter the store by opening it after closing time and scanning it at the entrance.
2. The gates open, we take our basket and the shopping can begin, with the difference that we will certainly not meet staff in the store, at most we will meet other customers.
3. The payment can be made in the same way at the self-service cash registers that are already known from most domestic stores with the usual scanning. The only difference is that before starting the payment, the QR code presented once at the entrance must be scanned again.
4. When exiting, you have to show the QR code in the app again, and you’re good to go.

Self-service customers are not left alone

At the same time, customers are not left completely alone in self-service stores in the event of any disruption. The stores will be fully covered by cameras from A to Zwhile the dispatcher sitting in the video center continuously supervises the progress of the purchase. If there is any problem, on the one hand, you can ask him for help, on the other hand, he intervenes when he sees something he doesn’t like.

The dispatchers’ work is also supported by an additional camera system based on artificial intelligence, which will be able to highlight suspicious events by itself. For example, if someone consumes inside the store or puts a product in their pocket. The double photocell door also serves the purpose of preventing the entry of unknown persons and break-in thefts.

The self-service store is already a proven model abroad

According to Attila Bessenyei, the foreign examples are very promising for now. In the Czech Republic, for example, there are a number of remotely monitored self-service retail outlets of a similar format. “They started with the local Coops, typically in rural areas, and in addition to the usual daytime opening hours, they were able to achieve 10-20 percent more traffic, which would either have been missed or realized in other stores.”

The other direction is that in those small Czech towns, where the operation of the local ABC was no longer profitable, this self-service store model represented a livable, bridging solution. “We have seen a commercial-municipal cooperation in the Czechs that saved the direct food supply of the village with this method” – explains Attila Bessenyei.

The first remotely monitored, self-service stores in the Czech Republic started nearly three years ago: at this time last year, Coop still had ten stores, their number is now close to fifty, and the number of stores belonging to the genre is over a hundred across the country. The fact is that within a year, the number of Coop stores quadrupledaccording to the Laurel CEO, also indicates that the business model is working.

There are also several similar remotely monitored store networks in Germany, with a somewhat different technological background, while in Poland the Zabka trade chain is not idle with its 70 self-service stores. The latter bases its system on machine vision, and they primarily target small shops of 10-20-30 m², including hospitals and metro stations.

On the ski slopes of Austria, there are almost extreme cases where the shop is so self-service that there is no remote monitoring, no scales, only a self-service cash register. If someone still wants to pay in cash, they can basically throw the amount into the “cash” hole cut into the counter as an honor fund. Of course, all this is strongly compensated by the overpriced products.

Is the revolution of self-service stores on the brink?

Laurel’s project is closest to the Czech model, which works with a digital wallet compiled by local banks. “We are working with a very similar solution, but with a domestic partner service provider. Access is our own development” Attila Bessenyei revealed the details, who also shared that they are currently negotiating with several domestic supermarket chains.

The manager added: first of all, they will transform a 150-200 m2, traditional store so that it can operate without staff, but their model is considered suitable for other, including smaller, store meters. This is how they think about installing container stores that operate 0-24 hours, or in various manufacturing plants, hotels and educational institutions, such as universities.

In addition to the opening of the first store and further active discussions, the Laurel team is experiencing less waiting on the part of domestic and foreign partners. Regardless, Attila Bessenyei finds that great and active attention from the commercial chainsand not only the small spice shops in the corner, but also the large, global supermarkets are watching what Laurel achieves with its new development.

Hungarian box office, from Hungarian developers

The commercial service provider Laurel Kft. has been experimenting with the development of self-service checkouts since 2006, in the process of which they achieved a breakthrough in 2019, because, as Attila Bessenyei says, by then the market had matured enough for real projects to be realized. That is, about five years ago, in November 2019, the company started installing the first self-service cash registers in stores, and after the results of the first store launch, they received more and more orders. Laurel’s self-developed software is currently running on six thousand cash registers, some of which have been converted into self-service cash registers and a framework has been designed for it. Currently, there are more than 700 installed self-service cash registers at 12 different chains, both at home and abroad. Their customers include retail chains such as Coop, CBA or Reál, and their cash registers can also be found in Decathlon and Praktiker, among others.