When it comes to cashierless payments, MediaMarktSaturn has set the pace in recent months - no wonder, in the past twelve months alone, the European retail sector recorded a drop in sales of around 34 billion euros - 6.7 billion euros of which in Germany - because customers cancelled their purchases due to excessively long queues. MediaMarktSaturn is testing various technical solutions under the umbrella of the Retailtech Hub, one of which won the Audience Choice Award at the Shoptalk, the "Rising Star" trade conference in Las Vegas. This solution, invented by Startup rapitag, uses the anti-theft device to enable cashierless payment. Once the customer has paid, it opens - the customer can take the product with him and leave the store. The first large pilot of rapitag ran in Saturn Munich. We congratulated Co-Founder Alex on the award and asked some questions.

Alex, congratulations on the award! What exactly did you win the award for?

15 startups, three minutes time, two awards: These were the basic conditions for the Startup Pitch Contest at the "Shoptalk" in Las Vegas, the world's most innovative retail trade fair. Only 15 startups were selected from hundreds of applicants to pitch at the "Shoptalk" and thus secure the chance to win one of the two awards, a jury award and an audience award.

rapitag as the leading IoT technology provider for secure mobile payment processes in retail was among the few selected start-ups. Three minutes were enough for Sebastian (founder and CTO) to inspire the international audience with his rousing pitch. Following the pitch, Sebastian answered the questions of the expert jury from renowned venture capital firms for three minutes. Our business idea convinced - and won the "Audience Choice Award"! With our IoT anti-theft device for 1-click shopping in retail, unique and patented worldwide, we were able to assert ourselves against 14 international startups.

Why is shoptalk so important?

Shoptalk, which took place in Las Vegas from March 3 to 6, 2019, is the world's largest industry event for retail and e-commerce with a focus on the future and innovation in retail. The fair attracted more than 8000 visitors this year, including well-known brands, leading companies and start-ups like us. What unites us all: We all develop products and solutions to shape the future of retail both online and offline - and to respond to changing customer buying patterns and current market trends. Online commerce is booming, while more and more retailers are struggling to survive. However, e-commerce is not the industry's problem, but the missed opportunity to adapt to customer behavior. For example, long queues prevent customers pampered by online shopping from making stationary purchases. This is also reflected in the trend, which on the one hand buyers are increasingly shopping online and on the other hand online retailers such as Amazon are opening their own stores. These stores have new concepts and react to the market environment.

At Shoptalk, Google, Salesforce, Amazon and Co. presented their ideas in "Startup Street" as well as numerous founders. We are happy to be there with our trend-setting retail solution! Since we are currently negotiating the implementation of further Future Stores in the USA, it is important to have a local presence - and the award we have won is also an important statement towards our customers!

What are the next steps?

The prize money of 25,000 dollars won will go directly into the further development of our products. Among other things, we are optimizing our anti-theft devices especially for fashion, accessories and food retailers in order to replace long checkout lines in these industries with our combination of anti-theft technology and mobile 1-click payment by app. Demand is high: we will build on last year's highlights, including the pilot store launch with MediaMarktSaturn. In 2019, we will implement further Future Stores - in Germany, Europe and the USA. We will also further improve our existing anti-theft system for electronic products and add integrated E-Ink displays (ESL). In this way, the current price can always be displayed directly on the product itself. Dynamic price adjustments, such as in the online shop, are also possible at any time in order to turn each individual product into its own POS.