Stora Enso has entered a global partnership with the digital transformation company Atos to bring new automated retail solutions and services to the market. This new service is based on the concept of “Intelligent Cabinets”, which are RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) enabled e-kiosks designed for on-the-go purchasing using smart phones or standard card payment.
The partnership undertakes the commercialisation of the New Retail as a Service solution, combining Stora Enso’s technologies and the service delivery experience and methodology of Atos.
The “New Retail” solution by Stora Enso merges in-store and online shopping and uses sustainable RFID tags to track and trace stored items. These tags are paper-based, providing a plastic-free and recyclable solution for packaging authentication.
To buy a product from the intelligent cabinets, the consumer only needs a compatible payment app or payment card. When the cabinet door is closed, the consumer is charged via the app for the items taken out. Apart from this service, a back-end solution is offered to retailers for keeping track of transactions or replenishment.
The Atos digital services for Retail and Manufacturing will be used to enhance the New Retail solution. They are based on Codex for Retail, a modular portfolio of solutions and services for connected retail services with IoT technologies, underpinned by end-to-end services. This establishes a full new set of digital business services for retail with strong capability for scaling, driving clear business value and bringing clients out of the “pilot trap”.
“While retail is aiming at convenience and efficiency all at once, we drive innovations to combine the localisation of brick and mortar with digitalisation. With our partnership with Atos, we are entering the automated new retail market, where our sustainable RFID technology can bring the unmanned consumer experience to the next level,” says Martin Ros, Head of Stora Enso’s Intelligent Packaging unit.
“For any retail company and consumer goods brand, the topics of sustainability, product control and consumer experience are key values for their point of sales. Combining the Stora Enso smart tracking solutions with Atos’ Codex enablement and end-to-end service management, we jointly ensure that customers experience these values every time.” says Philippe Miltin, Group SVP, Head of Manufacturing, Retail and Transport Market at Atos.
www.storaenso.com