smark is an automated solution to sell sustainably and locally grown groceries 24/7, to bring them from the farm directly to the customer.
smark was founded by Maximilian Ittermann und Philipp Hoening who were developing an automated solution for shopping groceries during their studies. Customers can choose groceries on a touch screen and the machine dispenses them after payment. With this solution they want to tackle two problems. First, they offer only sustainably and locally grown groceries, and aim to do this at competitive prices to conventional groceries due to the savings their automation brings. While such groceries are on sale in the region, this is mostly done via shops at farms directly, which have limited opening hours and are sometimes far away from many potential customers. The goal is to thus to offer such groceries conveniently 24 hours 7 days a week for customers and therefore to create more job opportunities for local farmers and producers. Secondly, this automated solution can be employed in rural areas that have lost their local supermarkets. At present smark has two automated shopping stations in Stuttgart. This has been crucial to show the proof of concept for the technical solution in practice. smark is important for consumers who can buy local and sustainable groceries at competitive prices and for the farmers and producers who have much more opportunities to sell their groceries.

Resources needed

The smark founders received support through an EXIST grant for founders by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy with co-financing by funds of the European Social Fund and an innovation voucher from the State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing Baden-Württemberg.

Evidence of success

This practice is a good example of developing an innovative technological solution to reach social goals. smark has successfully established two automated shopping stations in Stuttgart since the founding of the company in 2016. This has shown that the technical solution can be applied in real-life circumstances, that there is a market for such an offer and that smark has found suppliers of groceries which are sustainable and local to cooperate with.

Potential for learning or transfer

smark’s goal is to make sustainable consumption so convenient and affordable that it becomes the norm. This is therefore an important concept for many regions. While the concept is currently only employed in Stuttgart, there is potential to expand the practice to other German cities and beyond, wherever there are regional farmers and producers of groceries who are interested in additional sales and the respective customers for such products. The lack of structures in rural areas can also be addressed with this solution, by providing local opportunities for shopping groceries. This is also an issue which a number of regions in Europe are struggling with.
Main institution
smark
Location
Other, Afghanistan
Start Date
January 2016
End Date
Ongoing

Contact

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