BERLIN, GERMANY– Żabka has won the NACS European Convenience Retail Technology Award, recognizing the company’s fully autonomous Żabka Nano store concept. The award, sponsored by Gilbarco Veeder-Root, was presented on 2 June during the NACS Convenience Summit Europe in Berlin.
Żabka has 8,300-plus convenience stores in the Polish market, meeting the needs of millions of customers each day. Żabka Nano is the company’s autonomous store concept, which use an innovative method of authorization and payment for purchases, implemented in cooperation with Adyen. To enter the store, the customer places their payment card against a terminal. While inside shopping, all the customer needs to do is select products and leave. A camera system will recognize the products removed from the shelves, calculate the appropriate amount and automatically finalize the payment using the payment card used when entering Żabka Nano. The system does not identify customers and does not remember the image.
Product ranges inside Żabka Nano are tailored to the specific needs of the location and customer profile. For example, a site in Decathlon, a leading sporting goods retailer, features approximately 450 products that meets the needs of people who prefer a healthy and active lifestyle, such as nutritious and healthy snacks, juices and smoothies, ready meals or freshly ground coffee from the coffee machine.
Today there are more than 40 Żabka Nano stores operating in the Polish market with the intention of becoming the largest autonomous store chain in Europe. The retail concept was created as part of the Żabka Future Business Incubator, which combines three elements: 1.) management and searching for innovations, 2.) transforming them into new products and services and 3.) commercializing them.
“We are currently the largest chain of autonomous stores in Europe. However, our ambitions are much greater. Therefore, in cooperation with business partners, we are constantly developing the Żabka Nano stores. We have a common goal, which is to simplify life for customers and offer them convenient solutions using the latest technologies. Thank you for the NACS European Convenience Retail Technology Award and we promise that we will surprise yet again by the projects we carry out”, says Paweł Grabowski, Director of unmanned solutions at Żabka Future.
The NACS Convenience Retail Technology Award recognizes a convenience retailing company that has pursued a significant and compelling technology initiative. The judges agreed that Żabka Nano offers much more than just a frictionless shopping experience—it’s a holistic approach to offering next-level convenience where autonomous retail is in tandem with a compelling store proposition.
“Our global industry is innovating frictionless and autonomous solutions at a very fast pace. More and more we’re seeing companies like Żabka continue to redefine the concept of convenience by enabling and investing in sophisticated technology solutions that will continue to drive our industry forward,” said NACS President and CEO Henry Armour.
“Through Nano, Żabka proves that retail autonomy offers more than just 24/7 convenience—advanced personalisation, local products and robust attention to both privacy and security are also on the cards. This passionate dual focus on innovation and the customer experience is the bedrock of our legacy at Gilbarco Veeder-Root, and we’re proud to showcase businesses like Żabka as they contribute toward this shared mission.” added Jason Lund, European Managing Director of Gilbarco Veeder-Root, sponsor of the NACS Convenience Retail Technology Award.
The NACS Convenience Summit Europe took place 31 May–02 June in Berlin, Germany. The global event is hosted each year in a different European city and is hosted by U.S.-based National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). Visit convenience.org/CSE for more information.