real,- Future Store firmly established as the innovation workshop of the retail industry

 Customers can test their sportive fitness on the six-meter climbing wall that will be set up specifically on the occasion of this anniversary. Professional staff will be available to ensure safety. Those who cannot get enough sports can conveniently try out the fitness equipment offered in the sports department and directly choose the matching trainer.

 As an anniversary surprise children can in addition build a nearly two meter high and five meter long LEGO locomotive brick by brick during the period from 27 to 29 May. A festive mood is also ensured by a caricaturist who "portraits" the visitors at the shopping arcade of the real,- hypermarket.

 Since its opening in May 2008, modern technologies and novel retail concepts have been tested in direct contact with the customers at the real,- Future Store. The aim is to optimally adapt the assortment and services to the customers’ needs.

 These efforts pay off. Already in the opening year, the trade magazine "Lebensmittel Praxis" presented the award ‘best fish counter of the year’ to the fish counter at the real,- Future Store for its excellent performance. Customers can find recipes for many regional and international dishes at the digital touch screen recipe advisors. The recipes including the list of ingredients can be printed out and used for shopping. In addition, it is possible to search for recipes according to certain criteria, like for example recipes for poultry dishes. Many concepts that have been successfully tested in Toenisvorst have in the meantime been rolled out to numerous other outlets of real,- in Germany.

 Also the range of various mobile services and checkout options offered is so far unique in the world. It includes the "Mobile Shopping Assistant" (MSA) as well as the "Mobile Shopping List" for mobiles phone which was introduced on the occasion of the first anniversary of the real,- Future Store and is available for more than 650 different mobile phone models. While shopping, customers can for example scan articles with their mobile phone and thereby accelerate their checkout process, request product information or pay by wireless at the end of their purchase. Customers whose mobile phone is equipped with an autofocus camera can already scan the barcode on the empty product packages at home and thereby prepare their electronic shopping list.

 In January 2010, real,- extended its service offer for mobile shopping by a free application for the iPhone. The "real,- app" shows customers the way to the nearest real,- hypermarket and a choice of the weekly special offers. In the same way, customers can also easily access the "real,- cooking show" which presents menu suggestions by renowned chef Armin Auer per video and offers the corresponding recipes. The ingredients required for these recipes can be directly entered into the "Mobile Shopping List". Shopping lists written on paper and then left on the kitchen table are now a thing of the past. "The number of accesses by internet-capable mobile phones to our company website  www.real.de has risen strongly over the past few months. This is also one of the reasons why we are making the most frequently used online services available to our customers in the form of an app for their mobile phone", says Manfred Mandel, Chief Marketing Officer real,- International. Further mobile services are being developed and tested.

 In addition to customers from Toenisvorst and the region also numerous journalists, VIPs from industry and politics and also school classes from all over Germany have visited the supermarket of the future during the past two years. Whether from Taiwan, Brazil, Morocco or Israel – more than 16,000 visitors and camera teams from 43 countries have participated in guided tours over the past two years and ensured by way of their reports that the real,- Future Store in Toenisvorst is now known far beyond our national borders.

 METRO GROUP Future Store Initiative
Corporate Communications
Schlueterstrasse 1
40235 Duesseldorf
Phone: +49 211 6886-2004
E-Mail:  presse@future-store.org