GERMANY | Diebold Nixdorf has equipped the new EDEKA Beckesepp store in Waltershofen, Germany, with self-service checkouts featuring its Smart Vision technology-based solutions for automated fruit and vegetable recognition and age verification.
This enables EDEKA Beckesepp to simplify the checkout process for customers while reducing the number of employee interactions required at the self-service checkouts, allowing them more time for direct customer service and daily tasks within the store.
With Vynamic Smart Vision | Fresh Produce Recognition, customers at EDEKA Beckesepp can easily and correctly capture products without barcodes, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, directly at the self-service checkout.
A camera placed on top of the scale, combined with sophisticated algorithms, identifies items and their quantities, which are then shown on the display. This eliminates the need for manual selection of fresh produce for customers, as well as weighing and affixing price labels in the fresh produce section.
"EDEKA Beckesepp is another excellent example of how our self-checkout and AI technologies support retailers in implementing modern store concepts,” said Leyla Feghhi, head of Retail Sales in the DACH region at Diebold Nixdorf.
“Consumers can shop at a time and in a way that suits them best, benefiting from a faster and more intuitive process at the self-service checkouts, which makes them less dependent on on-site staff. With our first-class services, we also ensure our technology is always ready to use."
The Vynamic Smart Vision I Age Verification solution also enables EDEKA Beckesepp’s customers to automatically verify their age. Thus, the purchase of age-restricted items such as alcoholic beverages can be approved at the self-service checkout during the day.
When an age-restricted item is scanned, customers are given the option to opt for automatic age recognition. Once consent is given, a camera installed in the system analyses the customer's facial characteristics using advanced AI algorithms to determine their age. The transaction can be continued if the customer’s age is above a predefined threshold.
The attendants in the store during daytime operations only have to check customers who fall below this age limit or opt out of automatic age recognition. This system is GDPR-compliant, as the process does not involve facial recognition and does not store images or other customer information.
If customers wish to purchase age-restricted items outside of the daytime opening hours, access to the store happens via an ID card, which then authorises them to make the purchase.
"When planning the new store, it was important for us to fulfil our role as a local supplier and combine customer convenience with optimum staff deployment,” said Johannes Ruf, owner of EDEKA Beckesepp.
“While the self-service checkouts also allow us to operate at night, the two AI-based solutions minimise two of the most frequently cited hurdles that customers mention when using self-service solutions: The lengthy search for the right item when registering fresh goods and the personal interaction for the purchase of age-restricted goods."
Edeka Beckesepp is already planning to equip additional stores with the self-service and AI technology from Diebold Nixdorf.
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