Last month, we wrote about
Boxy's unmanned mini-marts in shipping containers, which are popping up across France.
REWE's nahkauf BOX is around twice as large as a Boxy and stocks a wider range of products — 39 m2 vs. 15 m2 and 750 vs. 250 products. At nahkauf BOX, customers need to scan items and check out. Boxy's approach, on the other hand, is high-tech and fully automated; customers grab what they need and walk out.
And while Boxy is a startup, REWE was founded in 1927 and is Germany's second-largest food retailer. But both are trying to solve the same problem: how to bring groceries to areas that don't generate enough revenue to warrant a regular, fully-staffed supermarket. According to REWE, around 8,000 German municipalities are underserved by retailers, forcing residents to travel significant distances for their daily groceries. The same goes for rural and urban communities around the world. Time to start serving them with a BOX or Boxy?
