Tchibo is not only one of the most traditional companies in Germany, it is also one of the largest national consumer goods and retail companies. Since it was founded in 1949, the Group has expanded its distribution system, clearly setting itself apart from its competitors. In addition to local Tchibo stores and its own online store, Tchibo now also operates Tchibo depots via depot partners such as grocery stores, drugstores and bakeries. While the stationary retailer provides the space for the store within the store and handles the billing of the products, Tchibo manages and controls prices centrally. The connection required for this is made possible via M2M SIM cards from wherever SIM .
"We currently operate almost 8,000 Tchibo depots in Germany, for example in Edeka and Rewe stores, where we use the digital price tags," says Katharina Löffler, who supervised the rollout in Tchibo IT. These digital price tags, also known as electronic shelf labels, are located on shelves in retail stores and allow product information such as prices and product descriptions to be digitally displayed and updated in real time. They enable retailers to efficiently price and manage products without manual labeling. And – as in the case of Tchibo – the central control of prices at various sales locations remotely.
The shop-in-shop systems on the sales floors of brick-and-mortar retailers are among the most important sales platforms for Tchibo. The digital labels are controlled centrally via Tchibo's administrative site in Hamburg. In order for this to work smoothly and, for example, price adjustments to be transmitted immediately to a custody account, they need a connection.
"To communicate with our depots, we use an IoT solution that we developed ourselves, in which an M2M SIM from wherever SIM is used. The SIM card enables the devices to send and receive data via mobile communications," Löffler continues. "The technical support from wherever SIM was incredibly helpful throughout the entire process up to the deployment of the hardware. It was really excellent service."
When working with wherever SIM , it was not only the technical support that impressed, but also the SIM card itself. Löffler: "During evaluations, we noticed that some end devices were logged into Polish networks, even though the sales area is located in Germany. We were surprised at first, but then it became clear that the foreign network at the location had better reception than the German network. So these networks were used." With a SIM from wherever SIM , devices on the same tariff can also use mobile networks from neighboring EU countries, in this case Poland. In general, the SIM cards give end devices access to the strongest local network at any location so that data transmission is as trouble-free as possible everywhere.
