twenty4U beyond shop, Germany

Company overview

twenty4U GmbH was founded in June 2023 with the goal of creating unique retail experiences for consumers. This involved considering an analog base technology (vending) which was then transformed into the digital age through intelligent machine controls, applications, and sensors.

Our business model encompasses the development and production of these systems. We distribute the applications we develop as a SaaS model. Each customer can freely choose the types of functionalities, integrations, languages, and much more they require.

To achieve uniqueness, it was crucial to create dedicated solutions for specific markets that no competitor currently offers or is likely to offer in the near future.

To highlight the gas station sector, the following key features should be considered:

• Integration of car washes (coupon payment and dispensing) into our system (example: WashTec & Christ)
• Integration of digital vouchers and gift cards into our system. What used to happen at the gas station checkout now happens within our system.
• Pre-activated vouchers from all top brands
• Integration of gas station POS systems (Huth Elektronik + Scheidt & Bachmann (exclusive). With these two companies, we serve more than 70% of the German gas station market)
• Products and food from -25°C to +85°C (hot drinks and prepared soups)
• Integration of restroom access with voucher functionality for service stations
• Integrated age verification with document authenticity check. We can verify ID cards and driver’s licenses from approximately 140 countries

On top of that, we developed our own Content Management System (CMS). This system allows clips and commercials to be played on the displays when they are not in use.

The customer is the director of their own system:

• Own offers or promotions
• Third-party advertising (refinancing)And much more.

The market has long since stopped referring to our products as vending machines. It’s now widely recognized that we develop state-of-the-art sales systems using digital technologies.

In the startup world, it’s often assumed that companies don’t last long and investors get nervous. This cannot be the case with us, as twenty4U GmbH is financed exclusively by its shareholders and no external capital.

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Set the Scene

A Smart Store is truly smart when it meets the expectations of both customers and consumers for a staffless store. Furthermore, a Smart Store becomes even smarter when it not only replaces an existing brick-and-mortar store but also offers additional features such as (digital) offerings, self-learning hardware, self-learning applications, and user-friendly administration. Smart Stores must be staffless, yet many other solutions have demonstrated the opposite.

The Beyond Shop is a cloud-based shop system that can be managed across multiple systems and locations.

From the outset, our clearly defined goal has been to develop dedicated solutions for specific vertical markets. Unlike our competitors, the Beyond Shop is a solution precisely tailored to our market. It integrates existing peripherals, POS systems, ERPsystems, and numerous additional peripherals and machines.

Our platform is based on open interfaces, so that the beyond shop can connect to any
existing environment; however, other integration partners can also seamlessly connect to our system.

Innovation Overview

When we founded the company in June 2023, there was nothing but the pure idea. Not a single line of software, no suppliers, no technology partners, no office, no production. It was just the idea of an intelligent shop system that drove us.

Not just any shop, like the many others that had already been piloted in some way, no Scan & Go technology or robotics. Not even smart fridges, but an independently thinking system based on an analog technology that had proven itself for decades and simply needed to be modernized (digitized).

The most important question we had to ask ourselves was: “How intelligent can I make existing analog technology?”

The answer was always the same: “It’s entirely up to us.”

After creating an initial technical concept and a business plan developed to the best of our knowledge and belief, the decision was very clear to us: this is exactly what the market is waiting for. A SmartSTore, based on digitally driven technology with its own heart and brain.

Challenge & Opportunity

Initially, it was essential for us to focus specifically on a defined vertical market (gas stations, rest stops, and charging parks).

The gas station market in Germany is part of the downstream segment of the petroleum industry (refining, distribution, and sales to end customers). Gas stations serve as retail hubs for fuels and convenience retail.

Market Size and Structure
Total number of gas stations (2024): approx. 14,442 locations in Germany, of which:

• 14,084 roadside gas stations
• 358 motorway gas stations

The number is expected to decrease in the long term due to:

• Location consolidation
• Efficiency improvements
• Structural changes in the mobility sector (electromobility, alternative drive systems).

The market is structured oligopolistically: a few large petroleum companies dominate fuel sales. The five largest brands operate just under 50% of all stations but control over 70% of the sales volume.

Sales of traditional petroleum products are declining due to the rise of e-mobility, and most gas stations lack charging stations. This has led to a rapid decrease in customer traffic. The next consequence is that shop sales are falling so drastically that the business is operating at a loss. Staffing (typically two shifts) is no longer affordable, and the costs simply aren’t justified.

In many locations, shops are now closing because there was no affordable technological alternative until the advent of the Beyond Shop.

Shop solutions in the areas of robotics and grab-and-go were not financially viable, and the ROI was far too long. Scan & go, in purely unmanned environments, led to enormous thefts and hygiene problems, as the goods on offer were displayed unguarded and unlocked.

Partnerships & Ecosystem Collaboration

Other technology providers are at the heart of our solution. It’s not necessary to reinvent existing, effective technologies. Rather, our task was to integrate these technologies and develop them into a unique, comprehensive system. Every device, every peripheral, every piece of software communicates with each other; and this is what makes beyond shop so intelligent.

These are the different technologies which had to be integrated (names of suppliers you see in the confidential section):

1. Vending Technology
2. Payment Technology
3. Scanner Technology
4. Payment Network
5. Hot Beverages
6. Tobacco Products
7. Receipt and Voucher Printing
8. Smart Display
9. Age Verification
10. Application Development

In addition, we have several local partners in the areas of system construction, shopfitting, metal and woodworking, and more.

The success of the collaboration stemmed from our ability to convince each technology partner from the outset that our solution would also make their individual components smarter.

This enabled our entire team to develop, build, and market a complete system using a wide range of technologies—something none of these partners could have achieved on their own.

Setup & Early Experiments

The entire planning process initially required a very detailed concept paper. The interrelationships between hardware and software were crucial. Added to this were the numerous interactions of the many different peripherals and interfaces. We kept saying, “We’re going to make a gasoline engine run on diesel.”

Alongside the complete master-client system, we constantly had to consider the level of intelligence we could and should expect from the hardware. The result was that we had to completely redesign the machine language for the main components (output systems) because the existing system software wasn’t designed for intelligence.

The next step was to plan the entire customer journey. How would the consumer interact with such a novel sales system? The target age group ranges from 13 to 80 years old, and the system had to be understandable and explainable for everyone. The shopping experience was paramount to encourage repeat business.

From the outset, it was clearly defined that all systems had to be cloud-based to offer our customers the advantages of scalability (including across multiple locations). This required the development of a suitable backend in collaboration with a German data center, meeting all security standards and ensuring high availability.

Once these elements were in place (concept, machine language, interfaces, customer journey, and data center), the individual components could be assembled, and a first pilot system was built after eight months.

Digital & Data Enablement

Technology and data are at the heart of the entire solution. The entire application stack minimizes operator activity:

• Self-learning systems prevent incorrect dispensing of items because every dispensing is tracked and corrected if necessary. This learning process is saved for the next dispensing of the same item.
• Self-learning restocking lists. Based on current sales and existing data, the required quantity of products to be restocked is automatically generated.
• If a minimum product quantity is not reached, a reorder is automatically triggered with the wholesaler.
• Predictive maintenance is an essential component of the overall solution. Based on data points, the system is able to independently predict upcoming service work, thus eliminating unexpected downtime.
• Expiration date monitoring: The system knows the shelf life of each individual item. If the expiration date is approaching, these products are automatically reduced in size. When the expiration date is reached, these products are automatically removed from sale and are therefore no longer available to the consumer until the stocker has replaced them.
• Live monitoring of all systems, even across multiple locations. The central dashboard monitors every single data point in the system, from the status of a closed door to monitoring the refrigerated and frozen food chain. Should any errors occur, automated correction or shutdown takes place without active human intervention.
• Every customer can pre-reserve their goods online via browser or smartphone. The reservation time is fixed and can be selected by the operator. The goods are reserved for the customer during this time and can be accessed via QR code.
• Intelligent route planning in conjunction with GPS as well as refill items and quantities.

Scaling the Innovation

From the outset, we had to understand our customers’ businesses in depth. For them, “staffless” truly means staffless, except for restocking and cleaning.

We also took a very close look at the existing traditional vending market and its business model. Their model consists of selling the machines, followed by very expensive service and maintenance contracts. They didn’t address the concept of “helping customers help themselves” to keep their after-sales business running smoothly. twenty4U is based on the premise that, as a rule, the customer won’t need us again.

Our customers (their service personnel) can handle even the smallest repairs themselves. Product range changes are also possible. Every system we build is precisely prepared for the customer in our production facility. The customer comes to us for system acceptance and receives 1-2 days of training on their system.

We’ve also implemented an automated ticketing system for all eventualities. With this system, the customer no longer needs to create a ticket themselves; the shop system handles this automatically. A ticket with all the details of the error is then sent to our helpdesk. After a brief initial contact, the customer decides whether they can handle this themselves or require support. This system provides us with real-time, second-bysecond information on the health status of all systems we have delivered to the market.

This customer support model alone is unique and indispensable for our customers, who typically plan larger rollouts and require precisely this kind of scalable functionality for their daily operations.

Operational Transformation

Our innovation cannot and should not be compared to traditional shops. In traditional shops, the focus is on product presentation, store layout, design, and other aspects.

With our sales systems, the product layout naturally takes precedence. The planogram is created and stocked once. Individual changes to the product range are made based on algorithms developed by the system.

Originally, the shop at a gas station was the central hub of activity. It had to be cleaned, stocked, staff recruited and scheduled, and much more.

The beyond shop is an intelligent extension of today’s modern gas station. It no longer requires the same level of attention as a traditional shop. This frees up a tremendous amount of resources, which can then be used elsewhere.

The focus of a beyond shop is:

• Self-learning
• Self-improvement
• Self-care
• Self management

Setbacks & Pivots

No one who plans and implements such an innovation can claim to be free of mistakes.

We somewhat underestimated the complexity of the implementation in the early stages. We attempted to manage the individual developments in the various areas sequentially, but quickly realized that this wasn’t the ideal approach.

Developments that are ultimately intended to converge must be developed in parallel to allow for necessary adjustments during certain phases. As a result, we had to rapidly increase our development resources and even outsource some of them. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to achieve completion within that timeframe. Software development alone now comprises more than 2,000 person-days.

Furthermore, we underestimated the long lead times for certain hardware components. We went through a period where we had to factor in delivery times of 12-14 months.

Therefore, it was essential to increase our warehouse capacity and keep the necessary materials on hand (according to demand). We now have a site for administration, development, and production. In the vicinity, we have two additional warehouses which always contain the components for approximately 100 systems.

Impact & Results

Over the past two years, twenty4U has implemented solutions for locations facing various challenges:

Locations with existing shops:
In these situations, the gas station was able to switch from a three-shift to a two-shift operation, thus ensuring true 24/7 service. In most cases, an automated fuel dispenser was already in place. As a result, significant increases in fuel sales during the night hours were recorded. Additional convenience store sales were also generated, and the costs of the third shift were eliminated. All these factors resulted in a return on investment (ROI) of less than 18 months.

Locations where the shop had to be closed:
At these locations, fuel sales sometimes fell by up to 50% simply because there was no additional product range. By implementing a “beyond shop” system, fuel sales were restored to normal levels and even exceeded expectations within four months.

Additional convenience store sales and staff savings resulted in a return on investment (ROI) of approximately 12-14 months.

Locations where the Beyond Shop system is replacing the traditional shop as planned:

Enormous staff savings, 24/7 availability, and significantly reduced operating costs resulted in a return on investment (ROI) of less than 12 months.

Generally, the acquisition costs of a Beyond Shop system are such that these ROIs can be achieved. This is in contrast to other technical solutions, which lack any profitability.

Scalability & Future Potential

If we consider only the market we are currently actively targeting (gas stations, rest stops, and charging parks), we are talking about approximately 15,000 potential installation locations in Germany alone. However, to be realistic, we are currently only actively targeting about 10% of these locations. This corresponds to the so-called tail end of the gas station industry, which is undergoing a major transformation and requires significant changes.

We are projecting (and in some cases already planning) a market potential of approximately 1,500 locations over the next seven years. This figure does not yet include other sectors such as hotel chains, retail in general, leisure, or even employee catering.

To achieve these goals, it is essential for a startup to scale together with its customers.

This includes areas such as personnel, production, service and support, logistics, and general technology.

We plan these goals meticulously, and our customers greatly appreciate this attention to detail, aligning their rollout plans with our capacities. That’s true partnership.