SATO appointed METRO partner to push Smart Store standards

SATO International Pte Ltd (SI), a holding company for SATO Corporation's overseas sales offices, has been made Gold Partner by the world's fourth largest retail company, Germany's METRO Group. METRO Group is the largest retail company in Germany and the second largest in Europe. It has an annual turnover of EUR53.6billion and operates in more than 2,300 locations in 28 countries. SATO joins 16 other Gold Partners including Microsoft, Philips, HP, Oracle and Symbol Technology. As a Gold Partner, SATO will be working with METRO Group on projects involving the latest technological developments such as RFID, particularly IC Tags for the METRO Group Future Store Initiative.

SATO will contribute its AIDC expertise by setting standards for retailing that can be implemented on an international scale within the METRO Group Future Store Initiative as technologies and technical systems are tested and further developed in practice.

The METRO Group Future Store Initiative is the international retailer's technology-based vision of the 21st century grocery shopping experience and is a cooperation project between METRO Group, SAP, Intel and IBM as well as other partner companies from the information technology and consumer goods industries. Its objective is to promote innovations in retailing on a national and international level. The initiative aims to be a platform for technical and process-related developments and innovations in retailing.