Discount Retail Chain Aldi Süd has now also put some pick-up machines into operation to test their function and gain insights into the changed customer demand. The test, which began in mid-July, is limited in time and region, the company said on request. Previously, the German "Lebensmittel Zeitung" had reported.
One vending machine is located in Düsseldorf and two are in Mülheim an der Ruhr. For the discounter giant with its around 2,000 stores in Germany, it is an innovative niche project that could provide a better insight into the new shopping behavior in the age of online shopping. Another example is delivery services: Aldi Süd has been testing such a service since last autumn in a version that is also locally limited. Competitor Rewe has been doing this on a large scale for some time. Rewe is also testing pick-up machines.
How the Aldi vending machine works
Anyone who orders via the website mein-aldi.de or the associated app can pick up the goods the next day or up to five working days later - access to the goods is not possible on the day of ordering. The inside of the container, which is about seven metres long, three metres wide and three and a half metres high, is cooled, so there is also fresh produce. Frozen goods can also be bought. If you have ordered cleaning rags, you will also be "served" them well chilled. The assortment is smaller than the range of goods in the store.
The consumer receives a QR code after the online purchase. This is scanned on the device, whereupon a glass door opens and a paper bag with the ordered products is ready. The order is not available around the clock at Aldi Süd, but only in a certain time window - in Düsseldorf you have to pick up between 3.15 p.m. and 9 p.m. The minimum order value is 20 euros, and there is no extra fee for the machine. The container in which the goods are located is located directly next to a conventional Aldi store in a parking lot.
Rewe also gets involved
The machine is a side string of the so-called Click & Collect system. You order online and pick up the goods later. This saves you waiting at the checkout and long searches in the aisles of the shop.
Competitor Rewe relies relatively heavily on Click & Collect, and according to the company, pick-up is possible in every second supermarket of the chain with its 1,800 locations in Germany. However, in the vast majority of cases, this involves going to a certain area of the store and receiving the order from an employee. Rewe, on the other hand i.e. without contact with a person has only 16 pick-up machines nationwide. They can be used around the clock, most of them are in Cologne and Berlin.
"The stations are another offer to give customers more flexibility when shopping," says a Rewe spokesman. "Especially in city centres, where there is not enough space for a REWE store with a pick-up service, the format of the pick-up stations is a good idea." Rewe does not have any major expansion plans for its vending machine presence: In principle, "the expansion of the stationary pick-up service in the store is preferred," according to the supermarket chain.
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