Innovation
METRO’s innovation management is aimed at developing solutions that make daily work and business processes more efficient and sustainable for both our customers and METRO’s operating business. To achieve this objective, Hospitality Digital (formerly HoReCa Digital), METRO-NOM and the Store Operations division at METRO AG have formed a close cooperation.
Supporting the digitalisation efforts of our business customers
Digital technologies have become an essential part of our daily lives consumers use their smartphones anywhere and any time to find shops or food outlets and to book a table at their preferred restaurant. While it is true that digitalisation has made an impact in the hospitality industry, many of our customers continue to lag behind in the digitalisation of their business models. This is the finding of a METRO survey that examined the needs of business owners from 10 countries. The survey found that around one third of respondents find it difficult to gain access to digital solutions, despite more than 80% of them considering these important for their business. METRO has acknowledged the opportunities for growth associated with digitalisation and aspires to be a driving force behind the digital transformation of our customers. Hospitality Digital is, for example, developing solutions that allow hospitality operators to improve their digital presence without too much effort and technical knowledge. These solutions include, for example, an online booking tool and a toolkit for creating a website that runs on METRO servers. METRO customers can take advantage of these online tools free of charge. Websites for more than 100,000 customers from 14 countries have already been created since the end of 2017.
To identify effective and scalable digital solutions, these websites are tested by METRO in close cooperation with hospitality operators. The project METROpolitan Pilot saw more than 500 hospitality operators testing more than 100 restaurant-specific digital solutions in Berlin, Paris, Milan, Barcelona and Vienna, including solutions developed by Hospitality Digital and start-up partners. This included an analysis of the user-friendliness and the additional value of the solutions for the customers’ businesses. Our teams and the start-ups then used the findings to further develop and refine the solutions. Once the trial phase is concluded successfully, the solutions can be brought into strategic sales cooperations that will market them to a broader audience.
Hospitality Digital and US company Techstars have teamed up for the METRO Accelerator programme which has been assisting international teams of entrepreneurs in the development of digital solutions for the hospitality industry for around 4 years. The same service has been offered for the retail industry since 2017. Around 50 start-ups have participated in these accelerator programmes so far. METRO’s own investor team LeadX Capital Partners has joined forces with other external investors to provide capital funding for promising start-up companies.
- For more information, see the Annual Report 2017/18 at www.metroag.de/we-are-on-the-move/innovations.