MediaMarktSaturn and the Plug and Play Tech Center are searching for innovations for retail in Munich's Retailtech Hub. Martin Wild, Chief Digital Officer at MediaMarktSaturn, explains the startup program to us.
Please briefly introduce the Retailtech Hub!
The Retailtech Hub was launched by MediaMarktSaturn in August of this year. This open platform is aimed at tech startups from all areas of retail, far beyond consumer electronics. It is also open to other retail companies. Together with the accelerator experts from Silicon Valley's Plug and Play Tech Center, we offer an innovation platform for startups and established companies in the retail sector that is unique in Germany.
How does the collaboration with Plug and Play look like?
Plug and Play has incredible expertise when it comes to the practical implementation of startup programs. MediaMarktSaturn has six million customer contacts every day and extensive experience in implementing pilot projects with startups. Together, we offer startups a unique infrastructure for further development. This attracts the best young entrepreneurs to us. And this also brings great retailers to us. It's a very virtuous circle that continually improves the Retailtech Hub.
“The Spacelab was our MVP and we pivoted”
What happened at the MS Spacelab What went wrong? What lessons did you learn from this, and how does the Retailtech Hub differ from the Spacelab?
The program was an excellent first step—it's not for nothing that we're currently rolling out one of the offerings from the first batch, German Technical Consulting, nationwide. However, the program was only open to the consumer electronics retail sector. Many startups, however, are relevant to all retail sectors—think of payment systems or logistics solutions. We wanted to make the program exciting for them, too. That's why we founded the Retailtech Hub as an open platform for the retail industry. It's open to retail companies and startups from all verticals—food, clothing, hardware stores, and so on. We're also focusing on what made Spacelab successful—the pilot projects. And we're doing away with things that made things more complicated—requiring startups to give up shares and move in with us. Spacelab was our MVP, and we pivoted. As is only right in the startup world.
You're looking for partners from various retail sectors. You're already working with Lidl and Kaufland. What do you hope to achieve with this coopetition? Where are the limits of collaboration?
We can only shape the retail of tomorrow if we throw old ways of thinking overboard. The Retailtech Hub is an open accelerator for the entire retail industry. The goal is to give startups the widest possible range of opportunities to test their ideas in practice. Ultimately, everyone benefits from this. The Retailtech Hub is an open platform—this applies equally to startups that impress us, as well as to retail companies that want to join and are a good fit for the accelerator. At the same time, we see significant synergies when we work more closely with other retail companies on the topic of innovation. The experiences from the pilot projects with the startups are shared with the partners—so everyone wins, startups and retail companies alike.
“The Retailtech Hub is a very open program”
Which startups from which industries does the Retailtech Hub work with? What do you offer them?
Ten startups are participating in the first batch, which launched in October. Many exciting solutions for retail are represented, from direct payment at the shelf and market research using a digital super brain to video product reviews. The participants in each round, the so-called batches, go through a three-month program with various focus weeks. Here, they work closely with experienced mentors and coaches from the program in areas including HR, marketing, funding, business development, and operations. The most important element is a joint pilot project with us and our retail partners, in which the innovations are implemented and tested in practice. At the end of the three months, there is a demo day - here the startups present themselves to decision-makers at MediaMarktSaturn, Plug and Play, as well as our partners and the startup and investor scene.
Impressions from the Retailtech Hub (Photos: Retailtech Hub):
Which startups are excluded from collaborating with the Retailtech Hub?
The Retailtech Hub is a very open program, but startups should have a connection to the retail industry and offer the potential for practical implementation of their solutions. The startup must also already have a product that can be piloted. Startups that are just developing an idea can receive more support from other programs. We are also happy to connect you with them. For example, at Brigk in Ingolstadt, whose partner is MediaMarktSaturn.
Do startups have to be afraid that you will interfere too much?
No, we see ourselves as business partners for startups—anything else would be presumptuous. Startups today often face the problem that their ideas take a long time to reach corporate decision-makers. We're changing that. We also provide them with support on numerous operational issues. But the rule is: a lot is possible, nothing is mandatory.
How much will shopping change in the next five years? How well prepared is MediaMarktSaturn for this? And what role does the Retailtech Hub play in this?
Retail is becoming hyper-personalized—whether online, mobile, in-store, or at home. The goal is to ensure that customers always receive the right offer from us. To make this possible, there are plenty of adjustments we can make together with startups. These will be great times for customers. And also for retailers who recognize and implement this. We're very excited about it.
Thank you for the interview!
