Orlen opens fully automated store at unmanned station in Berlin
The new smart store sits alongside an Orlen express site and is designed to remove almost every point of friction.
Orlen Deutschland has opened in Berlin a fully automated convenience store integrated into an unmanned fuel station. The new smart store sits alongside an Orlen express site and is designed to remove almost every point of friction from a routine stop for fuel, snacks or coffee.
There are no tills, no cashiers and no opening hours. Customers enter the store by holding a debit or credit card to a terminal, take what they want from the shelves and leave. Cameras and sensors track each item, creating a virtual basket that is charged automatically once the customer exits. For products such as tobacco or alcohol, digital age verification is built into the process.
Inside, the offering is familiar rather than experimental: drinks, confectionery, ice cream, coffee specialities and tobacco products. What changes is the labour behind it. The store operates without staff, aside from restocking and cleaning, reflecting a broader shift toward automation in convenience retail.
For Orlen, which operates more than 600 fuel stations in Germany, the site functions as both shop and statement. The company has been steadily expanding unmanned stations and digital retail formats in the last years.
