Imagine if your region offered an online shop where you could buy a range of local produce such as artisan bread or fresh, seasonal vegetables and have it delivered to your doorstep with a few clicks of a button? In the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia, the EU-funded project Smart Emma has developed a prototype that could offer just that for online shoppers. A future spin-off business would provide a platform for local retailers to compete against online giants and supermarket chains by offering them a digital shopfront.
Smart Emma: Helping local grocery shops in Germany compete against online retail giants
- 02 December 2019
With Smart Emma we researched how a coalition of food retailers on an online platform can be achieved, what acceptance factors exist and what a sustainable delivery model could look like to help cities become more environmentally-friendly. By prototyping it, we showed how small retailers can stay competitive.
Shopping on the internet, either with a computer or a smartphone, has become second nature to most people. However, there is one area of retail where the uptake has been slow: groceries. This is because most fresh products like vegetables, meat and dairy – which in many cases have to be refrigerated – are difficult to deliver.
However, there are signs of change. Major online retailers have already begun several field trials, some successful, especially in the UK, which suggests that the online grocery market will develop rapidly.
Competing in a digital world
The research project Smart Emma was launched in 2016 to prepare Aachen’s food retailers for this upheaval. While consumer trust plays a major role in shopping, even long-established local shops with devoted customers will need innovation and support to compete in the years ahead. Twenty grocery retailers – including fruit and vegetable shops, bakeries, butchers and fishmongers – collaborated by participating in interviews and testing.
For the participating retailers, a prototype mobile application was developed for tablets and smartphones that can send notifications when a new order is placed. This could help retailers incorporate online ordering from their existing shop floor or counter.
The tested prototype was well-received by consumers as well as retailers, enabling groceries to be ordered as easily as takeaway food. A sustainable delivery system via electric bicycles was developed and tested that could enable consumers in the region to order products and have them delivered to their doorstep, office or even a local park.
Understanding shoppers’ needs
To ensure the new platform provided real value, it was important to understand why online grocery shopping is less popular in Germany than elsewhere. Research was conducted by the Institut für Unternehmenskybernetik e.V, RWTH Aachen University, neomesh GmbH and Teleretail GmbH. They analysed how consumers shopped online and how digital retail could be improved in Aachen. Using this insight, a business intelligence system and business model were developed, which can be transferred to other cities in future.
Smart Emma can bolster Aachen’s economy by supporting unique food products that can only be bought from local shops, in turn safeguarding independent businesses and creating employment.
Four new IT jobs at Teleretail GmbH and a part-time job in logistics were created thanks to the EU-funding. A PhD position was established, which will continue beyond the project’s duration.
It is hoped that the successful results of the Smart Emma research project will generate a spin-off business that would initially employ two workers full-time.
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EFRE.NRW
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Smart Emma – Ordering Fresh Products Online” is EUR 1 599 045, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 799 522 through the “Nordrhein-Westfalen ERDF” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Research and innovation”.