Metro has unveiled the latest testing ground for its Future Store Initiative at a Real hypermarket in Toenisvorst, Germany.

The site replaces its previous pilot store in Rheinberg, outside Düsseldorf.

Metro says it has set up the facility to provide renewed impetus for innovation throughout the retail sector.

The technology being tested at the hypermarket is available for the public to use.

Of particular note at the store is a mobile shopping assistant. The mobile phone application allows customers to scan their purchases with their handset while shopping.

Other technologies include a quality-assurance system for meat products, which uses RFID chips. The system tracks best-before dates on products stored in the freezer displays and registers when a packet is picked up by a customer.

Another system being tested includes a checkout that allows customers to pay by fingerprint.

All of these innovations are presented to customers by two robots, which act as store guides. Each robot has a swivelling head and sensors so that it can find its way around the shop. Customers can ask questions via the robots’ integrated touch screens.

Metro also runs a visitors centre adjacent to the site, which is the start and end point for guided tours of the store. In the four years that the Rheinberg site was open, more than 31,000 visitors from 63 countries have come to see the technologies in use.

Metro’s Future Store Initiative is a collaboration between more than 80 retail, consumer goods and technology companies to drive modernisation in retailing processes. They pool their expertise and develop groundbreaking concepts that are tested in environments such as the Real hypermarket.