Hungarian retail chain opens Hungary’s first 24/7 unstaffed smart shop!
Hungary’s first unstaffed, 24/7 smart shop opened in Szeged by the Hungarian-owned retail chain Coop. The shop is located in Szeged’s downtown, in Szent István Square. Here’s how it works.
Hungarian retail chain opened Hungary’s first 24/7 unstaffed smart shop
According to Telex, the customers must register first. Afterwards, they can enter the shop with an app and QR code to collect what they need and pay for the goods with a credit card with the help of a code. Getting out is permitted only with your QR code or the receipt the shop issues. For now, the shop can only be used by adults.
If somebody needs help, they can call a dispatcher. There is no face-recognition surveillance system but AI-supported cameras, which register suspicious movements. Therefore, nobody can steal anything or forget to pay for something. If that happens, the company can acquire the money from them later.
More customers, extended opening time
Coop expects more customers thanks to the development and the 24/7 opening time without raising salary expenditures. János Kelemen, the CEO of Coop Szeged Ltd, said that they opened the first smart shop in Hungary. He added that the new system cost several tens of millions of forints. Furthermore, they had to spend millions of forints on the shop’s new equipment, allowing customers to buy anything without staff. For example, an AI-supported scale helps with shopping. Operation costs will not be higher despite employing a dispatcher and an intervention team.
Here is a video of the new shop:
More smart shops can open in small settlements
Kelemen said they would like to open new smart shops in the small settlements, where the daily turnover is low. Such shops can be open 24/7 without the need to pay staff. They created the Szeged smart shop based on foreign examples like Scandinavia, Czechia, and Slovakia. The IT background is entirely a Hungarian development, Attila Bessenyei, the CEO of the subcontractor Laurel Ltd, said. That required a HUF 300 million investment, but the company hopes they will be able to participate in operating hundreds of similar smart shops in Hungary. That is a business risk, but many are already interested in their solutions.
The new Szeged smart shop will have a traditional opening time, so they had to create traditional IT support and a smart shop IT network. They said that the development did not get any state or EU funds.
No dismissals, inflation not caused by the retail sector
The CEO of Coop said such developments would not require cuts in staff numbers. However, Kelemen said salaries are the highest expenditures in the retail sector. If they can cut that back, the profit will be higher.
The CEO highlighted that inflation in Hungary was not caused by the retail sector but by global economic issues and the Hungarian economy’s performance. He added that suppliers regularly increased their prices in the last few years.
If the government upholds the so-called profit margin cap on multiple products, the Hungarian retail sector will face bankruptcy. Kelemen hopes the government does not intend to harm retail seriously.
Based on current regulations, the profit margin cap introduced by the government will end in May. Without abolishing it, the retail sector will suffer serious harm. Retailers’ association OKSZ recommended the government phase out a cap on markups on a range of food products and argued that extending the measure to non-food products was unwarranted. They also wrote that upholding the measure could cause irreversible damage.
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