Boosting Efficiency & Empowering Retail Employees through Smart Solutions

Problem statement

The retail sector, particularly within the Food & Near Food categories, is facing significant challenges due to labor shortages, resulting in increased workloads and operational inefficiencies. Employees are often burdened with repetitive, physically demanding tasks, which reduces their efficiency and impacts their overall satisfaction and well-being

Wanzl, a global leader in retail solutions with a vast reach across multiple markets, is committed to solving these challenges together with you. By implementing intelligent hardware solutions and focusing on improving the Employee Journey in retail stores, Wanzl aims to create scalable innovations that can be seamlessly adopted by retailers worldwide

Innovation areas

Key Question: How can we enhance the efficiency and working conditions of retail employees in the Food & Near Food sectors to better address labor shortages and operational challenges?

1. Automating Manual Tasks: How can we reduce the physical strain on employees by optimizing and automating repetitive tasks such as restocking and inventory management?
2. Ergonomic Design for Physical Tasks: How can we reduce the physical strain associated with tasks like restocking, handling inventory, and managing in-store logistics to enhance employee health and efficiency?
3. Optimizing In-Store Logistics: How can we enhance the efficiency of in-store processes, such as the movement of goods and the allocation of tasks, to improve employee productivity?
4. Creativity and innovation: What novel approaches can be developed? How can we reimagine the roles, tools, and environments of retail employees 

In the following tabs you find more guidelines and background information regarding the project, Wanzls product portfolio or the employee journey in retail.

Goal

Wanzl is dedicated to innovating smart physical solutions that enhance the efficiency and working conditions of retail employees, particularly within the Food & Near Food sectors.

The process to achieve this goal is structured into several phases:

• Phase 1: Concept Proposal
  Participants are encouraged to propose their forward-thinking solution & concepts. This phase focuses on identifying smart retail solutions based on physical components that improve the Employee Journey.
• Phase 2: Co-Creation & Proof of Concept (PoC)
  In this phase, selected participants will collaborate closely with Wanzl to refine their concepts. This collaboration will involve tackling technical challenges, optimizing the proposed solutions, build a partnership structure, and developing prototypes or other tangible proofs of concept to demonstrate feasibility and effectiveness.
• Follow-up Collaboration
  Wanzl offers the potential for significant business partnerships for solutions that align with their operational goals and strategic vision. Successful innovations could be scaled across Wanzl’s global product portfolio, leading to substantial commercialization opportunities.