First ‘Supermarket of the Future’ Opens in the Czech Republic

The supermarket chain Coop will open what it is calling the “Supermarket of the Future” in Strakonice, South Bohemia.

The store is built around the ideals of innovation and transparency, officials said, and merging physical and digital by augmenting a traditional food market with interactive displays and smart shelves designed to make shopping more relevant and personalized.

Display screens that overhang products provide information about an item — including its origins, nutritional facts, the presence of allergens, waste disposal instructions, correlated products and promotions — triggered by customer gestures.

Customers can go groceries 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At the exit, instead of a checkout register and cashier, there are simply automated gates that open when you pay with a credit card.

In the first half of 2022, Coop wants to open two or three other stores in the country. “Any further development depends on the success of the first store. We have no reference framework because there is nothing similar in the Czech Republic,” said Lukáš Němčík, Marketing Director.

Traditional shelving layouts have been rethought and associated with a touch application which enables the customer to navigate through the product categories, to filter and search for the most suitable products, discover promotions and view detailed product information.

The result is an “augmented label” that gives the customer deeper insight into the product they are purchasing.

The store also allows shoppers to view real-time data as they shop, providing content including Coop’s brand values, special daily offerings, and cooking suggestions, social media information, top-selling products, and promotions for each category, facilitating an additional interaction point with the shoppers.