TOENISVORST, Germany — Metro Group, Dusseldorf, Germany, opened its new Real Future Store last week here, its second store featuring the latest high-tech in-store applications. One application, the Mobile Shopping Assistant (MSA), allows consumers to use mobile phones to scan purchases while shopping as well as to find specific products in the store or call up product information. Meat products prepared in the in-house butchery are fitted with RFID smart chips and displayed in the smart freezer, which monitors stock levels and the best-before dates on all the items, helping with in-house production of fresh meat products and the optimization of quality assurance. A wine tasting counter offers a selection of 16 chilled wines that can be dispensed hygienically into testing cups at the push of a button. “The concepts and technologies that prove successful here in Toenisvorst will be introduced successively at stores belonging to our sales brands,” said Dr. Eckhard Cordes, chairman of the management board of Metro Group, in a statement. “Consequently, the Real Future Store is strategically important for the future development of the entire group.” Metro Group operates 350 Real hypermarkets in Germany.
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