We are testing the first store of the future Take&Go. Check out how to shop there

We often write about the stores of the future – after all, mobile is their inseparable part. Usually, however, these are stores opened far beyond the borders of our country – be it Amazon Go, Nike's super-smart showroom in New York, or Japanese payment innovations. The moment has come when the store of the future has also opened in Poland. We had a chance to do shopping there.

About Poznań Take&Go, as this is the name of the store, we have already mentioned a few times in other articles. The first store was created in Półwiejska street and its opening was preceded by a few months of closed tests. The main technology responsible for the self-service store is RFID. A mature technology (almost 80 years old), but still successfully used in commerce. On every product in Take&There is an RFID tag on the Go, which allows you to clearly identify what the customer leaves the store with.

There is also a dedicated mobile application. It is our unique ID and it is also the key to the door of the store Take&Go. The application also serves as a method of payment – directly to it we plug in the card, from which we want the charges for purchases to be taken.

We go shopping

To get to the store, you will need an application. It can be downloaded from Google Play and App Store, of which we are informed at the entrance. The application requires a relatively large amount of data about the user – name, confirmed e-mail address, phone, as well as date of birth and the exact address of residence. In addition, we connect the payment card to the application. At this point I would see the possibility of adding a card using a photo or NFC, which is not available at the moment. P.S. While attaching the card, we are charged PLN to verify identity.

With such a configured application you can enter the store. In order to go through both the first door and the entrance gate in the store, you have to read the QR code from the app. To the right of the gate we have paper shopping bags available – in Take&Go has no baskets.

In the store, as well as in front of it, a large number of monitors draw attention, which display information about promotions, but also instructions on how to use the store itself. The most impressive is the led screen on the ceiling.

Assortment in Take&Go comes under the convenience segment – it is a place for quick purchases of ready-made solutions – meals, yoghurts, drinks, sweets. Prices are quite high, but I guess that's the price of innovation . The store itself is not large, so there are not many goods.

Ok, we have chosen the products to buy. Time to pay. At the exit, in the so-called. In the checkout area you will find a touch screen, and under it a shelf on which we put our purchases. To start the checkout, we have to read the QR code again from the app. After a while, a list of our purchases appears on the screen (read out with the help of antennas from RFID tags on products), which we can then accept or ask to read again.

Acceptance of the list causes the due money to be collected from the card connected to the app – no confirmations, no pins. There is no receipt either. We get an invoice on email.

Cool, but expensive future

Unsupervised shopping in Take&Go ran without any major problems. There were a few bugs while registering in the app, but they are not so big that they will not be fixed in the next update. However, we are more concerned about other issues.

1. First of all, RFID tags

It is primarily an expensive solution. The price of such a tag, reaching up to several dozen cents per piece, significantly increases the price of the goods or reduces the margin of the seller. Also the need to cover everything with RFID tags can be problematic – it's a tedious job by hand, and automating it can be expensive.

2. Secondly, the age of majority of customers

A convenience store is a small store, usually located in residential areas of cities or at other convenient and frequently visited points, dealing mainly in goods for immediate needs. A significant part of the revenue of this type of stores is alcohol. As it is now solved, there is no way to reliably confirm the age and majority of the Take Go customer&Go. So there is no way to safely sell products 18+ .

3. Thirdly payments

Currently, the payment process in Take&Go is solved superbly. Payments practically do themselves, but soon, as early as September 14, enters PSD2, which will place much higher requirements m.in. in terms of transaction confirmation. Changes to the payment process to meet these requirements may affect the simplicity of the whole process and thus spoil the user experience somewhat.

All of this, however, does not change the fact that Take&Go is a great format, and I'm sure its presence will motivate other retailers.