Just when we thought that technology is already at its peak, a new and more convenient innovation was inaugurated in Sweden.
After the opening of the first surplus supermarket in Denmark and France's law obliging food shops to not throw away unsold food, one Swedish supermarket makes waves as it proudly claims to be 'unmanned'-no cashier, no sales person, all you need is one single device; a phone.
It was one chaotic day, while home alone with his hungry and crying son, he dropped the last baby food jar and had to drive 20 minutes to get one. Then the brilliant idea dawned to Robert Ilijason. Living in a small Southern Swedish town, Viken, a supermarket open during the wee hours of the night is nowhere to be found.
Now, he owns a 24-hour supermarket with no cashier, no guards, and no management. The customers need only two things to buy things from the store; their own phones to unlock the door and scan their purchases, and utmost honesty.
Being an IT specialist, lijason has developed an app which serves as the scanner of the food items the customers wish to purchase. They will be charged after a month through an invoice. All the work a person is left to do is to receive deliveries and arrange them on the shelves, which lijason took responsibility of.
"My ambition is to spread this idea to other villages and small towns," Ilijason told The Associated Press. "It is incredible that no one has thought of his before."
The basic needs of the people living in a small town are covered-from bread to milk, canned food, sugar to baby needs. Although, the owner decided not to take the risk of selling tobacco and medical drugs to avoid the chances of theft and breaking. Alcohol, on the other hand, is forbidden to be sold in a convenience store anywhere in the country.
'To enter you need to use your app where you identify yourself using BankID which is a Swedish ID solution used by the banks,' he told The Daily Mail. 'So I know who you are and will only allow you in if you have no history of credit issues.
Security-wise, he has installed six surveillance cameras so that possible shoplifters would be discouraged. In case the front door remains unlocked longer than eight seconds or someone tries to break it open and break in, he programmed his phone to receive a text message. Luckily, there were no instances since the store's opening last January.
'My store has been successful in the dimension I care about; it's worked perfectly from a tech perspective. 'And to me that was the important part,' Ilijason said. And in case, God forbids, something unwanted happens, he jokes; "I live nearby and can always run down here with a crowbar," Ilijason said laughing, but added that hasn't been necessary since the store opened in January.
According to lijason, he hopes that through the savings made from the supposed salary of staff and employees would garner some savings that would encourage other people from other small towns to do the same and open a store for the convenience of their residents.
Of course, the locals of Viken were happy about the opening of the store. According to Tuve Nilsson, aged 75, such stores are very convenient especially to senior citizens like him. Though sometimes he doesn't get how it works, he is thankful of the improvements technology makes possible.
"Sometimes I don't understand it," Nilsson confessed.
Of course, many people commend the shop for its speedy transactions. Raymond Arvidsson says he did his shopping in less than a minute. "No queues," he said, smiling. "Quick in, quick out. I like."
To further improve the service and security, Ilijason considers new and better ways of unlocking the door to registered shoppers, especially a method that requires no usage of an app. He has ruled out fingerprint scanning and face recognition because of its technology's chances of tampering. As of the moment, he thinks of installing a card reader, which recognizes the magnetic stripes.