Mobile Shopping

Nowadays, mobile phones are an integral part of everyday life for many people. And they are not only used for communication purposes – they can be put to use in a variety of ways. High-resolution digital cameras, navigation systems and fast Internet access come as standard on a lot of smartphones these days. Retail companies are responding to the ever-increasing number of people using these devices by developing their own innovative apps that make shopping easier for their customers and attract new customer groups. METRO GROUP is therefore promoting the development of Mobile Shopping with a whole host of apps and services designed to help customers at every step of the shopping process, from the planning stage to the in-store experience and paying at the checkout.

The  Mobile Shopping List of real,- is available throughout Germany. This application refers to an electronic shopping list that customers can take with them anytime and everywhere on their mobile phone. They can, for example, prepare a shopping list at  www.real.de and then access it with their mobile phone. Or they use their mobile phone to add items to the list. If the phone is equipped with an autofocus camera, they can be used to simply scan the barcode on the packing of a product.

Owners of an iPhone, an iPod touch or a device running the Android operating system can download the "real,- App"  for free and use it to access the retailer’s tried and tested online services. The real,- app shows customers the location of their nearest hypermarket and also a selection of the week’s special offers. It also gives them easy access to the real,- Cooking Show, in which the renowned chef Armin Auer presents menu suggestions by video, together with the menu recipes. The necessary ingredients can then be directly added to the mobile shopping list that is incorporated in the software.

At the real,- Future Store, customers can borrow and try out the Mobile Shopping Assistant (MSA) . With the MSA, customers can scan items themselves, call up product information and avoid possible queues at the checkout as the purchases can be paid for directly at the paystation. Alternatively, customers with an iPhone can turn their smartphone into an MSA by downloading the necessary software from the App Store.
 To the website of MSA

In the future, customers will also be able to pay for their purchases using their mobile phone, provided it is equipped with a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip. NFC is a technology designed to exchange information securely across a short distance of a few centimeters without any physical contact. One of the technology’s major advantages is that the radio connection is fast and intuitively operated. METRO GROUP is currently testing an NFC-based method of payment in its real,- Future Store. All a customer has to do to pay their shopping bill is hold their MasterCard PayPass card near the NFC reader at the checkout. This field test is especially interesting because it is the first time a new standard is being used that could make payment systems uniform across all sectors and around the world.

METRO GROUP offers additional mobile services to the customers. The real,- body coach  on a customer's mobile phone can help keep one's weight or to stick to a personal diet, for example.