Behind the startup company Rapitag are Munich-based developers Alexander Schneider and Sebastian Müller. The two have a passion for customers pressed for time. That is why they developed an intelligent anti-theft device that enables consumers to experience a new kind of shopping.
Rapitag allows customers to pay for their chosen product directly at the shelf using their smartphone. The technology has already been introduced in the headphone department of a major German electronics chain in Munich. Anyone wishing to purchase new headphones here can enjoy the innovative payment technology. The buyer simply downloads an app to their smartphone. After registration and payment for the desired headphones, the customer holds the phone up to the product’s anti-theft device. This is then automatically unlocked, remains in the store, and the customer can leave with the merchandise.
The inconvenience of standing in line at the checkout is eliminated.
If you think of the self-checkout systems of a large Swedish furniture store and some supermarkets while reading this article, you are not entirely wrong, but: What is new and innovative about Rapitag is the added value for the customer. What exactly does that mean? Waiting in line is waiting in line. Whether a customer stands in line at the central checkout or at a self-checkout is relatively irrelevant. Both cost valuable time. That is precisely the time Rapitag wants to help customers save. Mobile payment also offers no real added value for the customer—they can pay with their smartphone, but still have to stand in the traditional checkout line and wait. The new technology from Munich addresses this issue and aims to provide customers with a simple and convenient shopping experience on the one hand, while offering retailers security with the intelligent anti-theft device on the other.
According to their own statements, the founders of the innovative technology are in negotiations with several major European and American fashion chains. They see the advantage of their invention for retailers primarily in the fact that traditional retail can regain more influence in a market dominated by e-commerce with Rapitag. The introduction of the novel technology can help market one’s own business in the media as extremely innovative. Both retailers and customers pressed for time can therefore benefit from the intelligent anti-theft device Rapitag.
The innovative project was realized in part by the engineering and design firm “industrialpartners”. The German company with offices in Frankfurt am Main, in the Odenwald, and in the Chinese port city of Tianjin supports its clients from the first groundbreaking idea to the development of the entire product. For the intelligent anti-theft device, the creative minds at “industrialpartners” were responsible for the concept development of the housing solution for the actual tag, the subsequent mechanical development, and the production of a small series of 300 of these tags. For the production of the small series, the team, which has been awarded multiple times for its design ideas, used the HP Multi Jet Fusion 4200 production system. With this system, it is possible for the first time to produce components with nearly 100% density that exceed laser-sintered parts in strength and durability and are also nearly isotropic. The advantages of high speed and low material costs, combined with extremely short turnaround times, make this rapid prototyping process one of the most cost-effective additive manufacturing processes available and can sustainably replace the conventional plastic injection molding process for the production of small series on an industrial scale.