AiFi powered Albert Heijn store lands at Schiphol Airport

AiFi is providing its NanoStore template for a new Albert Heijn autonomous store at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

Until the end of January, visitors can walk in and walk out by touching a contactless debit card at the door to open it. Items are automatically registered and paid for. Shoppers can also check their purchases at the exit to verify the receipt.

The store sits on the Jan Dellaert Square in front of Schiphol Plaza, after being transported on the back of a trailer truck from its initial test location at Albert Heijn’s headquarters in Zaandam where it has operated since September.

“The airport is a perfect place for autonomous stores. Travellers are very aware of their time and need food and drinks at a variety of hours,” says Steve Gu, CEO and Co-founder, AiFi, which emerged from stealth last year. “This speaks to the original design thinking behind NanoStore: to make a plug and play modular store so it can be easily placed and moved where people need it the most.”

“We are happy to give a stage to this innovation from Albert Heijn and are naturally extremely proud that we can be the first to offer visitors to Schiphol the benefits of checkout-free shopping,” comments Irene Muysson, Head of Retail, Food & Beverage and Commercial Services at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

“Albert Heijn and Schiphol have been working together for years. We are constantly looking at how we can improve the shopping experience through the use of new digital technologies, for example.”