Sberbank powers cashless Take&Go store in Moscow

The cashless store requires customers to use Sberbank's Take&Go app to scan a QR code upon entry. They then take their desired products and leave, with the cost debited automatically from their registered bank card

State-owned Sberbank, retailer Azbuka Vkusa and Visa have opened a cashless ‘Take&Go’ store in Moscow.

The cashless store requires customers to use Sberbank’s Take&Go app to scan a QR code upon entry. They then take their desired products and leave, with the cost debited automatically from their registered bank card.

The AI technology that makes the cashless store possible was subjected to a three-week trial. A limited number of customers made more than 200 purchases in that time, and 1,100 customers have downloaded Sberbank’s mobile app.

Beverages, sandwiches and dairy products were the best selling items among the customers of the all-new store, with Greek yogurt proving the most popular.

Announcing that the store is now open to the public, Dmitry Malykh, acquiring and bank cards director at Sberbank, said:“I am sure that customers will appreciate the new technology as the first pilot results and the number of times the application is being used have proven that the service enjoys demand.”

Sergey Cherednikov, head of  the Take&Go project at Azbuka Vkusa, said of the pilot results: “The testing went according to plan and we are satisfied with its results. The active feedback from the test group has enabled us to pilot multiple real-life scenarios of interaction with buyers. We’ve also changed the range of products and their planogram while improving the process of their rotation to ensure maximum freshness of the product range on display.”

“We see that our assumptions have been confirmed—this buyer-seller relationship model based on trust is relevant and it works, and we keep developing the format that is new for us, while now it’s available for everyone.”

Michael Berner, country manager for Russia at Visa, added: “Recent months have changed our shopping habits. Many of us have found out new channels and formats. We see how digitisation in general is gaining momentum everywhere and the opening of a store that utilises computer vision is a good example of this trend. Visa supports global and local solutions aimed at improving consumer experience and it is nice to note that Russia is one of the markets using such solutions in real life.”

Image: Shutterstock

Mark Dugdale