Autonomous retail technology will push things forward: Poland’s Żabka Group reviews its time at NRF 2023
Żabka Group was last week out in force at NRF 2023 in New York.
Żabka Nano, an autonomous store concept that has been developed under the umbrella of Żabka Future for over a year and a half, was featured at the Microsoft booth.
And now Patryk Powierża, Growth Lead at Żabka Polska, has taken to LinkedIn to sum up the firm’s time at the show.
Autonomous technology will drive the retail industry, he argued.
“We have had great talks with worldwide retailers. All of them were interested in the details of approaching autonomous technology from the retailer's perspective and our plans for how to scale it up. Most of them were from Asia and North and South America,” he wrote.
He added: “The doors of our Nano store were opened about 1,200 times. Most of the visits included groups of about five to eight people.”
“We can say that a few thousand people had a chance to check the Żabka Nano store. From unofficial info, we know that the Microsoft booth was one of the most interesting during the whole event.”
Powierża concluded: “Opening the pop-up store in NYC was a challenge. I used to compare our store to Ikea Retail, but sending a store from Poland to the USA wasn’t an easy job.”
“The store was assembled in three days and it was fully functional. It only proves how flexible our technology is.”
AiFi
The Żabka Nano stores operate in several formats, such as standalone container vending machines, traditional bricks and mortar outlets, or store-in-the-store.
Each uses technology developed in cooperation with American firm AiFi and leverages Microsoft Azure.
The first location was established in June 2021 in Poznań. Currently, Żabka Group manages the largest chain of autonomous stores in Europe with more than 50 outlets.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Microsoft and Żabka Group at the world’s largest retail event,” says Steve Carlin, CEO at AiFi.
“Having surpassed more than 50 AiFi powered Żabka stores recently, the demand for autonomous checkout in convenience stores is quickly rising, and we’re proud to have proven our ability to deploy autonomous stores at record speed in partnership with Żabka.”
Representatives of the Żabka Group discussed the digital transformation that has been going on within the company since 2016 during the conference part of NRF 2023.
On 15th January, Blicharski talked about the concept of Żabka Nano during the NRF BIG Ideas session "Resilient retail. Achieve more with Microsoft Cloud for Retail".
This was led by Shelley Bransten, Global Corporate Vice President, Retail & Consumer Goods Industries at Microsoft.
“Digital technology that enables experiences like autonomous stores is what will make the difference between retailers that thrive and those that get left behind,” says Bransten
“In collaboration with Microsoft partner AiFi, we’re pleased to bring the Zabka Nano store checkout-free solution to life at NRF 2023 and to show the global retail industry what’s possible for autonomous stores through Zabka’s successful deployment.”
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