A wide variety

 real,- – the name stands for hypermarkets with a varied and broad range of products. Customers can find up to 80,000 different products ranging from food and textiles all the way through to electronic appliances. real,- is open to technological innovations and believes in testing products in 'real' situations by letting customers try out the new applications in the stores themselves.

real,- is the first German company to offer the Self-Checkout as an alternative to the traditional checkout. Customers scan their goods with a barcode scanner and are then taken through the payment steps on the display or by using an audio explanation that is even available in English. The weight of the shopping bag is automatically compared with the scanned items. After the items have been scanned, customers can pay at the same terminal in cash, by EC or credit card or with the Payback Plus card. The Self-Checkout terminal was tested for the first time as part of METRO GROUP's Future Store Initiative and is now being used in some 60 real,- hypermarkets.

The Express Self-Checkout that real,- uses in the stores in Tönisvorst, Ratingen, Wolfsburg and Mülheim-Kärlich near Koblenz has enough room for moderate purchases of up to 20 items. Similar to the Self-Checkout, customers scan their items and receive a receipt stating the items they purchased. They then proceed to one of the payment terminals to pay for the items in cash or by card. As there are more payment terminals than conveyors, waiting times are reduced.

At the Express Self-Checkout & Service, the payment and scanning processes are also separate. As with the normal checkout, customers place their purchases on the conveyor belt. The items are scanned by a friendly shop assistant, who then hands the receipt to the customer. The customer then proceeds to the payment terminal.

Another innovation that real,- has implemented are the so-called Smart Scales. The Scales’ integrated camera recognizes the vegetable or fruit customers place on the scales device. Customers no longer have to remember numbers or search the display for the corresponding product. Smart Scales were also introduced as part of METRO GROUP's Future Store Initiative. In the hypermarkets' fresh produce departments, real,- also uses so-called Situative Scales, which display additional information to the employees behind the counter. This allows the store to offer its customers even better advice.