The advisory board met in January 2020 in Zurich, focusing on Swiss convenience retail innovations. The meeting began at Zurich Central Station’s Coop To Go in the Landesmuseum
hall, followed by tours of selected shops in ShopVille including Coop to go, Migrolino, K Kiosk, ShopVilleMärt, Blueberry American Bakery, and Drinks of the World. The session featured Michael Wirth, Head of Digital at Valora Group, who led a tour and test shopping experience at AvecX in Zurich Central Station and presented on the AvecX and AvecBox concepts. Valora Group operates Switzerland’s leading convenience store chains and has pioneered autonomous retail solutions. Following lunch at Au Premier, Martin Fuhrer from Fuhrer & Hotz, Swiss convenience experts, presented on trends in the convenience sector including insights from the Handelsmonitor and Swiss developments transferable to Germany. Rikus Kolster provided updates on REWE To Go and Lekkerland, and Sabine Benoit presented final results from the 2019 IoT in convenience study.