AiFi is the first to prove its ability to scale with a single partner by opening more than 50 stores with Żabka Group, the operator of the largest chain of autonomous stores in Europe
AiFi, the leading AI provider empowering retailers worldwide to scale autonomous shopping solutions with 100% computer vision, announced it has opened its 100th checkout-free store and welcomed Joe Jorczak as its Head of Global Revenue to support the company’s global expansion. Among its deployments across North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Australia, AiFi is the first autonomous retail provider to showcase its ability to scale with an individual partner, as it has now opened more than 50 stores with Żabka Group in Poland.
Fully-frictionless retail is growing, with the number of stores offering checkout-free technology increasing threefold during 2021, and RBR forecasts the number of check-out free stores to reach over 12,000 by 2027. The opportunity for in-store formats is growing across an increasing number of checkout-free stores in stadiums, workplaces, and other spaces. In fact, there are currently 790,000 convenience stores worldwide with US and European convenience stores making up more than half of the global share with 20% and 32% respectively.
“As we’ve entered a new year, retailers are reimagining everything from inventory management to staffing efficiency and in-store automation in order to meet the evolving needs of their customers,” said Steve Carlin, CEO of AiFi. “We’re proud to offer retailers an affordable, advanced, and flexible solution that helps retailers attract new customers and keep existing ones coming back. Surpassing 100 open stores is a huge accomplishment for our team, and we’re eager to continue expanding our work with current partners, such as Żabka Group, Microsoft, Verizon, as well as new ones we’re eager to welcome this year.”
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In December of 2022, AiFi welcomed Joe Jorczak to the team as Head of Global Revenue. Joe joins the team with more than 20 years of experience holding executive and leadership positions that honed in on understanding the customer experience to make a significant impact on business growth at companies such as Yext, Zendesk, Medallia, Oracle, and IBM.
“I’m thrilled to have joined a company that’s filled with people who seek to push the envelope of what a next generation consumer experience can look like,” said Joe Jorczak, Head of Global Revenue at AiFi. “What attracted me most to AiFi is the unique work they’re doing to understand consumer behavior at a more granular level, and apply that insight to the process of creating innovative technologies that completely transform the user experience in places such as sports stadiums, college campuses, office buildings, transportation hubs, and more. I’m proud and excited to join CEO Steve Carlin and the team as Head of Global Revenue.”
In January of this year, AiFi partnered with Microsoft and Żabka Group to announce the public preview of Smart Store Analytics, a data-driven tool that allows retailers to optimize store layout, shelf placement, and inventory, at NRF 2023 in New York City.
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“In cooperation with AiFi, we have created an innovative concept of Żabka Nano, which on a global scale, makes a revolutionary change in the perception of consumer experience,” said Tomasz Blicharski, EVP, Managing Director of Żabka Future. “As an outcome of our dynamic expansion, Warsaw has become the world capital of autonomous stores and Żabka Group is now the largest chain of autonomous stores in Europe. The idea of an autonomous store makes shopping the most convenient experience ever, since it only requires taking a product from the shelf and paying for it at the checkout without scanning. Żabka has always been committed to providing the highest quality products and services. Together with AiFi, we show how cutting-edge technologies, a good understanding of gathered data, and prioritizing customers’ needs can make their lives easier and free up valuable time.”
AiFi has deployed stores at major sports stadiums, transportation hubs, grocery store chains, office buildings, college campuses, convenience stores, and more worldwide. AiFi was recently selected by the Phoenix Raceway to open an autonomous store at the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship in November, and was invited to deploy another store at NASCAR’s next race in the spring of 2023 because of the store’s success. AiFi’s autonomous stores have reached more than one million customers with six million products sold. In 2022 alone, AiFi sold more than 4.8 million products, which is a 1,926% increase of the number of products sold in 2021.
