Review

Standardization and cooperation are the key for the sustainable enhancement of efficiency in all areas and sectors. The ECR Day is one of the top events for cross-company business processes and showcased potentials, solutions and opportunities for the successful creation of value added also in future.

1,400 participants from 500 companies and 100 top speakers met for the 10th ECR Day Dresden in early September.

Further information:  www.gs1-germany.de (German version only)

METRO GROUP will be presenting itself and its sales brands as well as its cross-divisional service companies as attractive employers. On November 12, there will be a training session for teachers. Educators from all around Baden-Württemberg and the surrounding area will be given information to help them to provide students with improved orientation when it comes to choosing a career. On November 13, students and graduates will have the chance to get to know the many facets of the retailing industry and its numerous career opportunities. The METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative will be there on both days in Mannheim to present some of the issues that will shape the future of retail.

The US trade publication ‘RFID Journal’ is hosting its fourth European congress on the subject of Radio Frequency Identification. The three-day event, which will be attended by around 350 experts from the fields of retail, consumer goods, IT and logistics, will focus on successful applications of the technology. Representatives from a number of companies will explain how they are able to work more efficiently and therefore reduce costs thanks to RFID. The speakers include Dr. Gerd Wolfram, Managing Director of MGI METRO GROUP Information Technology, who will be holding the opening speech. Visitors to the congress can also find out more about the deployment of RFID in retailing by visiting the METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative’s exhibition booth.

"Creating Value – Connecting Cultures" is the motto of the 25th German Logistics Congress  in Berlin. The talks and discussions at the international event will concentrate on themes such as the rapidly developing economies of the BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as environmentally sound logistics. At the accompanying special exhibition, METRO GROUP will be exhibiting along with its partners IBM, CHEP, FEIG ELECTRONIC, Intermec, m.i.k. IT, Procter & Gamble and TOSHIBA TEC. The presentation will focus on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and its deployment in logistics and warehouse management. This will be an ideal opportunity for visitors to ‘meet the experts’ at the fair stand and take part in discussions with representatives from the industry.

As part of their ongoing consultation on RFID, the European Commission organizes regular conferences at which experts from the worlds of business, science and politics as well as consumer protection organizations can meet and exchange information about current developments. The subject of the conference organized under the auspices of the French EU Presidency was the mobile Internet and the technological outlook for the "Internet of Things." As a gold sponsor, the METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative was in Nice with its own exhibition booth and was able to inform the 500 attendees about the deployment of RFID in logistics and quality assurance. Dr. Gerd Wolfram, Managing Director of MGI METRO GROUP Information Technology, also gave a presentation on the use of RFID in retailing.

For the tenth time, the Chancellery, the ministries and the Federal Press Office organized an open day in Berlin to inform citizens about their work. The focus this year was on science and technology. In the park next to the Chancellery, the METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative presented applications for the future of shopping and the household of tomorrow to the round 35,000 visitors. Highlights included the Mobile Shopping Assistant (MSA) , the Smart Shelf, Pay by Fingerprint  and the Smart Washing Machine.

Directly preceding the world’s leading intralogistics trade fair CeMAT in Hanover, the specialist conference ‘FUTURE OF LOGISTICS’ was attended by around 250 invited guests from the fields of science, business and politics. The event was based around a Delphi study on logistics in the year 2025. From its specialist trade fair stand, the METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative presented innovations including RFID solutions for order picking.

The aim of the ‘Internet of Things’ conference in Zurich was to bring together representatives from the world of business with leading RFID researchers. Gold sponsor METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative was there with its own exhibition booth. Dr. Gerd Wolfram, Managing Director of MGI METRO GROUP Information Technology, also gave one of the opening speeches on the use of RFID in retailing.

The METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative was a major exhibitor at the German Logistics Congress, presenting itself in a 650-square-meter booth. The highlight of the booth was the interactive exhibit "The World of Retail" (Erlebniswelt Handel). Visitors were able to experience logistics processes of the future firsthand. On October 18, the booth was also the venue for a round table discussion about sustainability in retailing and logistics.

The China Chain Store Expo is one of the world’s premiere retail shows for the Chinese market. In 2006, METRO GROUP attended for the first time. The focus of the 1,200-square-meter booth was to present the sales brand Metro Cash & Carry as well as the METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative to China. METRO GROUP presented innovative technologies for tomorrow’s retailing - such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) - to a wider Chinese audience.

METRO GROUP was the world’s first retailing company to attend the IT trade show CeBIT in Hanover, Germany. The METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative booth soon became an audience favorite. More than 120,000 CeBIT visitors came to the booth to find out about innovative RFID applications in retailing, leisure activities and at home. Visitors to the booth also included high-ranking politicians such as Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Secretary Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The annual ECR Europe Conference and Marketplace is Europe’s flagship trade show for Efficient Consumer Response, i.e. serving customer needs efficiently and effectively. The METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative attended the Paris show with its reworked booth. Visitors were able to try out technology for the future of retailing in more than 20 exhibits grouped into three categories.

EuroShop is the leading international trade show for capital investment in the retail industry. The METRO Group Future Store Initiative presented a number of highlights at the Duesseldorf show, all relating to shopping in the future and including the Smart Shopping Trolley and Smart Dressing Rooms. The objective of attending the show – a first time for METRO GROUP – was to introduce the Future Store concept to retailers and their partners.

"Retail’s Big Show", the leading event of the US retail association National Retail Foundation (NRF), saw METRO GROUP share the stage for the first time with Wal-Mart and Tesco in 2005. In New York, the three retail groups were promoting the swift implementation of RFID throughout the industry.

METRO GROUP presented visions for the future of retailing at the key event for the US retail association National Retail Foundation (NRF). It was during this event that METRO GROUP announced that it was rolling out RFID throughout the supply chain. About 10,000 specialists visited the booth of the METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative, making it the highlight of the event.