Retail technology companies in Czechia solve different parts of a supermarket’s operating problem. A new checkout system will not repair poor supplier data, and an unattended-store installation will not remove the need to replenish shelves or resolve customer problems. The best shortlist starts with the process that needs to improve.
This guide compares NG Retail, GRiT, KNOWINSTORE, Bizerba Czech & Slovakia and DANTEM. Their roles span point-of-sale software, electronic supplier communication, automated store access, weighing and labelling, and technology-supported stocktaking.
Each has a documented Czech presence or Czech retail activity. The selection is an editorial procurement shortlist, not a market-share ranking. Company information and published project references were checked in September 2026. A pilot installation is identified as a pilot, and group service figures are not presented as Czech supermarket market share.
Which company should be on your technology shortlist?
| Company | Relevant buying need | Czech evidence | First question for the supplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| NG Retail | Checkout software and loyalty integration | Qanto pilot announced in May 2026; CBA loyalty case study | Which grocery workflows are already proven in a comparable store? |
| GRiT | Supplier data, EDI and warehouse information | Czech software business with a dedicated retail offering | How will the system handle exceptions between orders, deliveries and invoices? |
| KNOWINSTORE | Hybrid and unattended-store operation | COOP Strakonice project and other Czech references | Who supports a shopper when the store is unattended? |
| Bizerba Czech & Slovakia | Weighing, labelling and fresh-counter equipment | Čestlice operation with Czech sales and service contacts | How will product data, scales and checkout software remain synchronised? |
| DANTEM | Electronic stocktaking and inventory services | Czech operation within a European group founded in 2000 | How will count results reconcile with our live stock records? |
These businesses are not interchangeable. A supermarket may need several of them, working with its existing systems integrator. Assign ownership of the interfaces before comparing prices, particularly where separate suppliers provide hardware, software, payment processing and support.
1. NG Retail: point-of-sale software and customer loyalty
NG Retail is based in Zlín. Its company description says it builds on a 30-year tradition of retail software delivery, while distinguishing the current business as a younger company. That wording should not be converted into an assumed incorporation date.
A concrete grocery milestone came on 15 May 2026, when NG Retail announced pilot operation of POS NG in the first Qanto markets with Astur & Qanto. The announcement describes integration with weighing systems and the demands of a broad food assortment. It establishes a grocery pilot, not a completed rollout across every Qanto store.
NG Retail also publishes a CBA CZ cooperative loyalty project completed in 2023 over a five-month period. That case describes the air&me platform, digital BIM CARD loyalty cards and integration with existing checkout and back-office systems. A loyalty reference does not mean the vendor supplied all of the retailer’s tills.
What to test: bring a basket that represents the awkward parts of grocery retail: weighed produce, a promotion with conditions, a return, a loyalty voucher and a product whose price has just changed. Ask the supplier to demonstrate the entire transaction and its appearance in head-office reporting.
For the Qanto reference, request the current pilot status and the lessons relevant to your own format. A neighbourhood food shop and a large supermarket may differ in transaction peaks, fresh-food weighing, cash handling and the complexity of promotions.
Contract discussions should cover data migration, staff training and the fallback process if a connection fails. Include the work needed from the existing ERP or checkout supplier. An attractive software licence can become a costly implementation if those responsibilities remain undefined.
2. GRiT: connecting suppliers, goods receipts and finance
GRiT develops cloud tools for business processes and data exchange. Its company profile says it has worked with more than 3,000 companies and draws on over 30 years of experience. These are company-wide statements across several sectors, not a count of supermarket clients.
Its ORiON EDI product handles structured communication between buyers, suppliers and logistics partners. The published scope includes orders, confirmations, delivery information and invoices, with direct integration or a web-based route for suppliers without a suitable connected system. GRiT also offers LOKiA WMS and iNVOiCE FLOW.
For supermarkets, the buying problem is often visible at the receiving dock: goods arrive, but the expected quantity, item code or pack size does not match the information in the system. A data project is useful when it reduces that practical friction and makes exceptions easier to resolve.
What to test: select a sample of suppliers with different capabilities. Include one with mature electronic messaging, one smaller business using a browser and one supplier whose deliveries regularly contain substitutions or shortages. Follow the information from the order through receipt and the invoice.
Ask how the system identifies a failed message, who receives the alert and how the problem is corrected without creating a duplicate order. Measure exceptions as well as successful transmissions. A high message count says little about whether warehouse and finance teams still have to repair the same records manually.
Plan supplier onboarding as an operational project. Someone must agree item identifiers, pack hierarchies, delivery locations and test cases with trading partners. The proposal should distinguish platform fees from mapping, integration, onboarding and ongoing support work.
3. KNOWINSTORE: hybrid shops and unattended access
KNOWINSTORE says it was founded in 2015 as a subsidiary of KNOWLIMITS GROUP. Based in Prague, it developed from point-of-sale communication services into a broader digital retail offering, including unattended stores and customer applications.
Its COOP Strakonice case study describes a store selected at the beginning of 2022 to test unattended technology alongside a partial refurbishment and hybrid operating mode. Its wider project list includes locations across Czechia. The reference is useful evidence of local experience, although an undated project list should not be treated as an audited current installation count.
The procurement question is larger than whether the entrance opens after normal hours. A hybrid shop has staffed and unattended modes, and the retailer must understand how customers, stock and incidents move between them.
What to test: run the customer journey from registration and entry to payment, exit and the receipt. Include a first-time user, a failed payment and a shopper who needs assistance. Ask who answers, what they can see, and which actions they can perform remotely.
Operational planning should cover replenishment, cleaning, damaged products and the return to staffed trading. Technology can extend access, but tasks inside the store still need an owner. Review any restricted products and the intended customer-verification process with the retailer’s responsible team before launch.
Build the commercial case around incremental gross profit and the full cost of the unattended period. Include support, connectivity, maintenance, payment charges and stock losses. Extra trading hours are valuable only when the resulting contribution justifies the operating model.
4. Bizerba Czech & Slovakia: weighing and fresh-food workflows
Bizerba Czech & Slovakia lists its Czech address at Obchodní 126 in Čestlice, with local sales and service contacts. Its Czech portfolio covers weighing, slicing, labelling and inspection equipment, alongside checkout-related products.
The weighing range presented on the Czech website includes counter scales, basic scales, hanging scales and self-service solutions. The site also describes connections between ordering, fresh-counter equipment and checkout processes. Buyers should confirm the exact locally supported configuration rather than assuming that every global demonstration is available on the same terms.
This makes Bizerba relevant when the problem sits between fresh-food preparation and the customer’s transaction. A scale is part of a wider information flow: the item description, price, weight and label need to agree with the retailer’s product records and selling process.
What to test: use actual products, labels and packaging from the proposed department. Check readability, scanning, the handling of price changes and the ease of selecting similar items. For a staffed counter, observe the employee’s work sequence rather than measuring only the time taken to print a label.
Ask who maintains the product file and how changes reach each device. A central update process should have a visible confirmation and a way to identify equipment that has missed an update. Include cleaning, consumables and replacement equipment in the operating plan.
Service coverage can be more important than a small difference in purchase price. Obtain the response and restoration commitments for each location, including weekends. Also establish which elements are supplied directly and which depend on a partner, so the store has a clear route when a fault crosses between scale, software and checkout.
5. DANTEM: stocktaking supported by specialist systems
DANTEM Group was founded in 2000. Its company profile lists branches in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Croatia, and describes an internal IT team alongside inventory staff and project managers.
The Czech homepage reports more than 10,000 inventory counts annually and activity in over ten European countries. These are undated group-level service indicators. They are neither a count of Czech supermarket contracts nor an employee total.
DANTEM’s stocktaking service describes portable terminals, electronic results and a customer portal with the status of ongoing counts. It also offers an assisted model in which the retailer’s employees carry out the count with DANTEM’s equipment, method and supervision. This is a technology-supported service, rather than a replacement point-of-sale system.
What to test: agree the treatment of weighed items, damaged stock, goods in transit and stock that moves during the counting window. Request a trial export and reconcile it with the retailer’s item and location records before the first full inventory.
Define the threshold for a recount and the evidence that accompanies a disputed result. A fast count is useful only if the resulting differences can be explained and posted accurately. Store managers should know when they can resume normal stock movements and who signs off each area.
Compare fully outsourced and assisted proposals on the same basis. Include the retailer’s preparation time, supervision, equipment requirements and reconciliation work. A per-item fee can be transparent, but the scope still needs to specify what happens when unexpected stock or incomplete product records slow the job.
How to evaluate a supermarket technology proposal
Ask each supplier to connect its product to a measurable operating result. A checkout project might target shorter queues or fewer interventions. An EDI project might target fewer receiving exceptions. An inventory project might target a shorter closure period and a more reliable reconciliation.
| Evaluation area | Evidence to request | Risk it addresses |
|---|---|---|
| Comparable experience | A reference using the proposed version, format and integration | A successful demonstration may not represent a working grocery installation |
| Implementation scope | Named owners for migration, interfaces, testing and training | Important work can fall between vendors |
| Operating resilience | Demonstrated failure and recovery scenarios | The store needs a workable response when a component fails |
| Support | Hours, escalation path, response and restoration commitments | Business-hour support may not fit evening or weekend trading |
| Commercial basis | Hardware, licences, interfaces, upgrades and recurring charges | The initial purchase price may hide ongoing costs |
| Data access | Export formats, ownership and an exit process | The retailer needs usable records if it changes provider |
Choose pilot stores deliberately. Include a location that exposes the difficult parts of the project, not only the easiest branch with the strongest team. Agree the baseline period, acceptance criteria and decision date before installation. Record customer impact and staff workload alongside the headline performance measure.
Keep the rollout decision separate from the pilot’s launch. A system that works in one shop may need changes before it can support different layouts, devices or local processes. Ask for a deployment plan with rollback arrangements and a clear handover from the project team to routine support.
Frequently asked questions
Should a supermarket buy everything from one provider?
A single accountable lead can simplify a project, but it does not mean every component comes from the same manufacturer. Ask the lead supplier to document its partners and responsibilities. The retailer should be able to identify who owns a problem without coordinating several vendors during a trading interruption.
Does an unattended shop need no staff?
No. Replenishment, cleaning, product checks, maintenance and customer support remain necessary. The relevant question is how those tasks are organised around the unattended trading hours.
Why are revenue and market shares not used to rank these companies?
The shortlisted businesses operate in different technology and service markets, and comparable Czech grocery figures were not established. A larger international business is not automatically a better fit for a particular interface, store format or support requirement.
Match the supplier to the operating problem
NG Retail merits a conversation about checkout and loyalty integration; GRiT about supplier and warehouse data; KNOWINSTORE about hybrid trading; Bizerba about fresh-food weighing and labelling; and DANTEM about stocktaking. The strongest proposal will show how the chosen service works with the supermarket’s existing systems and staff.
For the market context, see our guide to supermarket operators in Czechia. Our Czech food trade events guide also provides a starting point for planning industry meetings, subject to checking current organiser information.
