Fully automated mini supermarket tegut... teo with modular design and wooden construction complements the store network in hyperlocal format
Fifty square metres – that is the size of the unmanned mini supermarkt tegut... teo designed by the Hamburg-based studio design for human nature for the grocery chain tegut.... The digitalised self-service local shop is the physical answer to online shopping. Grocery stores are the shops that many people visit most of all. With tegut... teo, the daily shopping experience is once again being brought closer to people.
The fully automated mini supermarket enables people in urban quarters and smaller communities to shop easily and conveniently in the immediate vicinity. It is set to appear in places where there is no space for a classic supermarket, such as residential areas, villages, outside public buildings, on hospital grounds or university campuses. Customers can gain access to the unstaffed mini supermarket around the clock via the tegut... teo App by using their EC and credit cards. The product range comprises around 950 essential everyday goods, which can be paid for via the app or at one of the two self-checkout terminals in a cashless transaction.
The tegut... teo concept featuring the fully automated local shop on the corner not only meets people’s desire for proximity. With the marketplace idea, the store’s social component as a neighbourhood meeting place and information medium has already been anchored in the design. In order to underscore tegut... teo’s commitment to a sustainable and socially aware form of interaction, areas of the building’s façade are available for free services. Currently the range includes bike repair services, parcel stations, seating and dog resting spots as well as a book exchange – with many more services set to follow in the future. tegut... teo breathes life into places, creates new spaces of social interaction and gets closer to people in order to be close to them.
Pleasant design
The Hamburg-based design strategists at design for human nature created a special brand architecture for the mini supermarket: the ‘teoform’. With the superellipse, an existing tegut... brand element plays a spatial role in the new supermarket format. As a fundamental element of the entire tegut... teo design vocabulary, it informs both the architecture and the entire corporate identity. The structure gently curves outwards like a sculpture, while it flows freely as it opens up inwardly, generating an incredible feeling of space. Despite the compact dimensions, a sense of comfortable vastness is created on the inside. Plenty of light enters the space through two large round windows like in a ravine. Thanks to its lateral position, customers are protected from prying eyes outside. The organic architecture is open and inviting. tegut... teo accommodates people’s needs and welcomes the customers like a friendly character that is pleasant to have nearby.
Visible sustainability
The entire development of the structure is informed by sustainability. Sitting on the supporting structure made from native wood is a green roof brimming with biodiverse plants. The walk-in cooler – which is also housed within the wooden structure and thus an innovation in itself – ensures a high level of energy efficiency. A nature-based synergetic approach has been taken to all components. The cable ducts in the shelf elements, for example, are used for labelling the different product ranges.
The modular four-part wooden frame makes the architecture extremely flexible – not just in terms of the design of the shop floor and the external façade, but particularly when it comes to developing the locations. The prefabricated modules with newly developed wood and metal joints make it possible to construct a tegut... teo store in just one day. The ground at the location does not have to be sealed for the wooden structure. Electricity and an Internet connection are all tegut... needs for the transportable body of the mini supermarket.
Digital convenience – always nearby. Always there for you.
The lamellar design enables the goods to be arranged in a highly efficient manner. No fewer than 950 products are stocked inside on highly variable retail display fixtures in a stunning setting. In terms of number, the categories of goods are on a par with those found in a store with a full product range: dairy and cheese, sausage and meat, fruit and vegetables, chilled and frozen products, pasta, flour, spices, drinks, confectionery, salads and snacks, along with a large selection organic, vegan and convenience products. In addition to tobacco goods and – in the future – alcoholic drinks, household goods and toiletries round off the range of products. tegut... teo potentially stocks a sufficient range of products to do a classic weekly shop. Thanks to the staggered display fixtures and the comprehensive overview inside the store, the goods are transparently presented within the small space and shoppers can quickly find their bearings.
The tegut... teo store concept relies on the customers being able to use the technology intuitively. The entire customer journey – from the entry to the shopping and payment transaction – is digitalised, allowing it to remain open 24/7 without any staff. Automated entry control, the tegut... teo App and self-checkout terminals are an essential part of the new shopping experience.
More than just a shop
Flexible daily routines, conscious consumption, digital shopping services and a more sensitive attitude to mobility – with tegut... teo, the organic pioneer is reacting to our shift in lifestyle habits. The new sales concept places people at its heart by accommodating their needs. tegut... teo wishes to be a trustworthy and reliable partner. The customers should get a sense that many people are working in the background to take care of the product range and the shop floor, enabling them to feel confident that their needs are being served well at all times. tegut... teo is banking on this feeling increasingly becoming a mutual feeling, leading to people happily meeting at and with the store. The first pilot shop of the innovative store concept with the compact format is located in Fulda. A further three tegut... teo stores are already being produced and are set to open at the start of 2021. The aim is to open hundreds of the digital self-service stores nationwide so that people will soon be able to do their shopping conveniently just around the corner.
The tegut... teo concept is the winner of the Retail Innovation Award 2020. The Retail Innovation Award is the people’s choice awarded at the German Retail Congress. It was presented this year for the sixth time in recognition of groundbreaking innovation in the retail sector.
