Estonia's first unmanned convenience store R-Kiosk Go was opened in the main building of Tallinn University of Technology.
Reitan Convenience Estonia’s shop is self-service and with no shop assistant - the customer enters the store with a bank card or an app, chooses the products they like and leaves.
All purchases are registered in the virtual shopping cart using sensor technology and payment is made automatically when you leave the store. If the customer changes his/her mind when choosing products, they can put the goods back on the shelf and the product will be removed from the shopping cart automatically.
There are a number of unmanned convenience stores in the Nordic countries, including stores in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. R-Kioski GO unmanned store, which opened last autumn in Helsinki's Viikki campus, has been warmly welcomed by customers, and this experience encouraged the firm to open a store in Estonia as well.
"R-Kiosk Go uses artificial intelligence, i.e. several sensors and cameras with state-of-the-art technology. Sensor technology perceives both differences in the weight of goods, and movement. Distinguishing the differences in weight on the shelves is the main difference with the well-known Amazon Go solution,” says Ingvar Põld, the company's development manager. According to him, R-Kiosk Go technology does not use or store biometrics. "Simply put, this means the technology does not see people as people, but as objects," adds Põld.
What also distinguishes an unmanned store from a regular store is that it does not sell service products such as bus tickets or products that require identification, such as tobacco, alcohol and lottery tickets.
How the R-Kiosk Go Unmanned Store Works:
- enter with R-Kiosk Go app or bank card;
- mark at the gate whether you are entering alone or in a group (for example, with children);
- take from the shelves the goods that you want - all products are automatically added to the virtual cart;
- if you think about a product and put it back, it will be automatically removed from the shopping cart;
- once you have selected all the purchases you like, just walk out of the store - the gate will open automatically, and the purchase amount will be deducted from the bank card or payment instrument specified in the app when entering the store;
- you can check the shopping cart before leaving on the screen next to the gates. It is also possible to send a purchase receipt to your e-mail address.