Including such names as BMW and Bayer, the ..... 100 is the abbreviation for Deutscher Aktienindex 100, which is a price-weighted index for Germany's top one hundred stocks. (*) DAI (*) DAK (*) DAT (*) DAX
The DAX has dramatically declined in importance in recent years as Germany has fallen behind in every single new technology and industry such as AI, cloud, 3D printing, e-mobility, 5G, blockchaing, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and so on.
Germany’s wealth and power is built on technologies from the previous industrial revolution: Coal and steam power, fax machines, copper telephone lines, cash payments and paper-based bureaucracy and corruption. We have become far too complacent and arrogant to ever become the world’s powerhouse of innovation and science.
Below you will see just one example of the many bad decisions the German nation has made in recent decades, and why things will get much worse before they could finally get better. Perhaps it never will.
As a user on Youtube puts it: It is all the same here in Germany: worshiping the Diesel engine, preserving coal plants, preventing home office, and pressing the last MBit out of copper cables. An enormously conservative attitude is gambling away our future.
Including such names as BMW and Bayer, the DAX 100 is the abbreviation for Deutscher Aktienindex 100, which is a price-weighted index for Germany’s top one hundred stocks.
In September 2021, it was expanded to 40 stock corporations. The index is a product and registered word mark and figurative mark of Deutsche Börse AG, whose shares are themselves included in the DAX. It is the most important member of the DAX index family.
God bless Germany. …
Germany will continue to fall behind in all areas unless we finally understand that we need to fundamentally change our economy and our society as a whole. Aldi and REWE and other German discount grocers have teamed up with the Israeli start-up Trigo to introduce automated self-service stores. We may still have huge car manufacturers, but we don’t have a major player in the digital and data space, so we have to turn to companies from abroad. I really hope that this will change once our new government is in office.
The following is a translation of a German article posted on T-Online:
People usually work very quickly at Aldi checkouts anyway. But Aldi Nord wants to make shopping even easier for customers - and therefore do away with the checkout altogether. Artificial intelligence (AI) is helping with this.
When shopping at Aldi, it could be enough in the future to scan a QR code when entering and leaving the store. In addition, customers should be able to simply fill up their shopping cart and leave the store with it. The amount due will then be debited contactlessly on the way out.
This may sound like science fiction - but Aldi Nord wants to test precisely this scenario in a store in Utrecht starting next year. Sensors in the shelves, camera technology that records all shopping movements in the store and assigns them to appropriate customers, fast communication with the customer app, and a large portion of AI are supposed to make this possible.
In fact, Amazon is already using just such technology in some of its stores. Aldi can also imagine working in this way. Whether this is actually practicable is to be tested in a twelve-month test phase in a downtown store in the Dutch city of Utrecht. There, it is hoped, the new technology can also be tested with a high customer frequency.
In the medium term, this could also lead to staff savings.
The advantages are greater convenience for customers and a better overview of the availability of goods at Aldi, explains the managing director and co-founder of the company Trigo. It is Aldi’s technology partner in testing the cashierless store.
If the system is successful, Aldi could possibly save on checkout staff. In the test operation, however, the opposite is more likely to be the case. In Utrecht, meanwhile, more people than usual are being deployed, Aldi explains.
Shopping with QR code and camera: Aldi Nord is also opening a store without a checkout.
Initially, only a test is planned in a store in the Netherlands. But the discounter has much bigger ambitions with the new technology.
DĂĽsseldorf,
More and more German supermarket chains and discounters are experimenting with supermarkets without checkouts, where customers check in by cell phone and their purchases are later automatically billed. Now Aldi Nord has also announced such a store.
A new Aldi store in the city center of Utrecht in the Netherlands is to operate without a checkout at all from the beginning of 2022. Customers will check in and out via an app using a QR code. This will eliminate the queue at the checkout.
Sensors in the shelves and special camera technology record which goods customers put in their shopping carts. In this way, all shopping movements in the store should be reliably assigned to the right customers.
When they leave the store, all purchases are settled automatically and contactlessly. The goods are paid for using the payment method that the customer has previously selected in the app.
Aldi Nord is not the first retailer to test such concepts. Discount sister Aldi SĂĽd, for example, is using similar technology on a trial basis in a store in the London borough of Greenwich. So far, however, only company employees are allowed to shop there. When the test will also be opened to customers, Aldi SĂĽd does not say, even when asked.
Rewe, too, has now set up a store called “Pick and go” where customers can pay automatically via the app. The supermarket chain also tested the concept with employees first. In Rewe’s store, however, it should be possible in parallel to shop both cashierless and traditionally via the checkout.
Pioneer Amazon
Amazon is the pioneer in this area. The online giant is already using its self-developed “Amazon Go” technology in numerous stationary stores in the USA. Recently, Amazon has also introduced cashierless stores in London.
However, the Amazon Go stores in London are not full-fledged supermarkets, but convenience stores that offer a limited range of goods in a small space. They mainly offer goods for direct consumption, for example drinks, sandwiches or pre-made salads.
Aldi Nord is not using any technology it has developed itself for its test in Utrecht, but has entered into a partnership with the Israeli start-up Trigo. The company has developed an infrastructure for retail stores that uses artificial intelligence to ensure a high level of reliability in assigning purchases to customers.
Rewe is also using Trigo’s technology at its test store in Cologne. To tie this coveted start-up even more closely to itself, Rewe has even taken a minority stake in Trigo. However, there is no exclusive agreement, so Trigo can also work with competitors.
“We are very proud to work with Aldi because the brand stands for innovation in food retailing. Thanks to the technology used in the store, customers can shop conveniently while Aldi gets a better overview when it comes to merchandise availability,” explains Michael Gabay, co-founder and CEO of Trigo.
Reordering products
Indeed, the discounter not only expects the new technology to provide better service for customers. The automatic recording of purchases in real time can also make store processes more efficient and help to better organize replenishment. For example, the reordering of goods for the stores could then be completely automated and accelerated.
But the app offers customers even more options than cashierless shopping: for example, customers can use the app to manage their shopping histories, request any necessary refunds or provide feedback on their purchases. They also get an electronic receipt this way, saving the otherwise legally required printout of a receipt.
Aldi has high hopes for the technology. The test in Utrecht, which is initially scheduled to last twelve months, is expected to “yield important insights into future possible uses of the technology in the discount store,” according to the company. The city center location is ideal for testing the system with a high customer frequency during the day, it says.
At the same time, in order to prevent possible customer concerns, the discounter emphasizes that all data protection standards would of course be complied with. “For example, the intelligent technology ensures that facial data is filtered out directly and not processed,” the statement reads.