Retail technology innovation of the week: automation is the name of the game for Rohlik Group and AutoStore
Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a new series brought to you by RTIH and sponsored by 3D Cloud by Marxent, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers.
Every week, we will showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, in the run up to the publication of the 2024 report in April.
So far, we’ve flagged up sterling work being done by Ocado Retail, Decathlon, Lacoste, Downtown Spirits, TalkShopLive, Huck’s, Rovertown, Wing, Nobody’s Child, IKI, Pixevia, Walmart, A.L.C., Archive, Therabody, Outform, Kingfisher, PMC, Boots UK, Ocula Technologies, Grace O'Malley Irish Whiskey, Metacask, Ikea, Carrefour Belgium, Matalan, and McDonald’s.
And this week we’re focusing on European e-commerce grocery delivery firm Rohlik Group, which has gone live with Knuspr.de in Berlin, Germany, powered by an automated warehouse and AutoStore technology.
This is part of its plan to reach €10 billion in revenue by 2030 and to expand into 15 additional German cities.
The service reaches across the entire Berlin area, extending to neighbouring Potsdam and parts of Brandenburg, and operates from a Schönefeld distribution centre.
"In my experience in the online grocery industry, it is only a true leader who can transition a brand, automate a warehouse and launch with a large SKU range in four months,” says Vineta Bajaj, Group CFO at Rohlik Group, and formerly of Ocado Group.
“I'm extremely proud of what Rohlik Group is doing as a business, and excited about our future.”
"We are thrilled to welcome Berlin to our growing Knuspr.de family. The success we've experienced in Munich and Frankfurt gives us confidence that Berlin customers will appreciate the unique combination of wide assortment, superior fast delivery, and support for local manufacturers that Knuspr.de offers," says Tomáš Čupr, Founder and CEO at Rohlik Group.
"Our launch in Berlin aims to simplify and enrich shopping experiences with a comprehensive product range, combining favourable pricing and the finest regional offerings,” says Mark Hübner, Managing Director of Knuspr.de.
“We're excited to develop Berlin into our largest location, continually enhancing our selection to cater to the city's diverse culinary needs.”
The introduction of Knuspr.de in the greater Berlin area also marks the transition from the Bringmeister brand, which Knuspr acquired last autumn.
"We are proud to take over from Bringmeister and are fully committed to maintaining the high standards that customers have come to expect. We look forward to building trust with existing Bringmeister customers and delighting them with our enhanced service and product range," says Hübner.
"Berlin is a critical market for us and marks the start of a significant expansion strategy in Germany. Our goal is to redefine the grocery delivery service, making it faster, more reliable, and deeply integrated with the local food ecosystem," adds Čupr.
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