Faculty of Business and Economics

"The retail of the future is smart when concepts for digitization and sustainability reinforce each other"

Smart Retail Summit on 29 November 2022 - New Retail Logistics & Innovation Lab opened


How will man and machine interact in retail to create shopping experiences for consumers? How can digitization and sustainability be synergistically shaped as key challenges for retail systems? Questions like these move retail practice and retail research alike.

Retail Logistics & Innovation Lab
Such topics concerning innovations in retail logistics systems are therefore the focus of the newly founded "Retail Logistics & Innovation Lab" of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. The scientists involved are also investigating aspects such as sustainability and digitalization as well as the relevance of the human factor in highly automated logistics processes through method-based analyses and simulations.

Scientists from the Chairs of Production and Logistics (Prof. Dr. Matthias Klumpp) and Marketing and Innovation Management (Prof. Dr. Maik Hammerschmidt) work together in the research group. The Lab is funded by REWE Markt GmbH for five years with up to three researcher positions to enable a long-term perspective for research and innovation work. The "Retail Logistics & Innovation Lab" is also integrated into the research activities of the "Smart Retail Group" of the Faculty of Business and Economics.

Smart Retail Summit
The Lab was opened on November 29, 2022 as part of the "Göttingen Smart Retail Summit" in the Adam-von-Trott-Saal of the Alte Mensa at Wilhelmsplatz. Experts discussed the future developments of retail in the face of critical challenges such as sustainability, digital transformation, omnichannel integration and supply chain resilience.

The central message of the Summit: "Smart Retail" is not a state, but a transformation process in which sustainability and digitalization in retail reinforce each other in order to be able to act economically and ecologically at the same time. "The Smart Retail Group at Göttingen University brings together scientific and practical expertise to contribute to this transformation," emphasized Dean Prof. Dr. Matthias Schumann in his opening speech. His speech was complemented by two researchers from the group: While Prof. Dr. Yasemin Boztuğ emphasized the customer perspective in this process, Prof. Dr. Manuel Trenz stressed the importance of intelligent use of digital technologies in his opening speech.

Presentations by scientists and company representatives
In his subsequent presentation, Prof. Dr. Alexander Hübner, Professor of Supply and Value Chain Management at the Technical University of Munich, explained society's expectations of sustainability using the example of the discussion on food waste. He used the latest research findings to show that there is great potential for avoiding the destruction of food both on the production and retail sides and in individual households.

In other presentations, company representatives and scientists from the Smart Retail Group examined various aspects of the interplay between sustainability and digitalization in retail.

Tobias X. Gruber, Head of Sustainability at the Otto Group, and Prof. Dr. Waldemar Toporowski described how specific sustainability goals, such as standards in sustainable wood production, can be established and implemented through a consistent sustainability strategy across an entire group of companies.

Dr. Melanie Bockemühl, Digital Transformation Expert, together with Prof. Dr. Maik Hammerschmidt, showed how communication supported by artificial intelligence can encourage people to adopt responsible purchasing and consumption behavior.

Finally, Andreas Hillmann, Head of Transport Logistics at REWE Group, and Prof. Dr. Matthias Klumpp discussed different approaches of resilient and sustainable retail logistics of the future and explained how, for example, automated storage systems and sustainable transport processes efficiently ensure the continuous availability of goods in retail.

Photo Gallery

Members of the "Retail Logistics & Innovation Lab":



Members of the "Smart Retail Group":