“Smart bags” are available for “Rimi” buyers, which will help plant forests in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia

The smart bag contains an NFC scanner, or “tag”, which the buyer can scan in the “goodbag” app every time he visits the store and, using gamification or playing methods, virtually replenish the stock of tree seeds.

For each visit to the “Rimi” store, customers will be able to collect 100 digital seeds, and if they collect 400 seeds in four store visits, they will be able to use the “goodbag” app to plant a tree, creating a diverse forest ecosystem. The goodbag app is available for free on Google Play and the App Store. On the other hand, the selling price of smart fabric bags in “Rimi” stores in all Baltic countries is 3.99 euros, and they are available in limited quantities.

Fabric shopping bags and pouches have become part of shoppers’ everyday lives, the company says. According to a survey conducted by “Rimi”, every second buyer who pays for purchases at self-service checkouts prefers to use reusable cloth bags, thus making an environmentally friendly choice every time they shop.

“With this project, we want to remind our customers that responsibility for the environment is in everyone’s hands with these simple everyday choices. That’s why we, “Rimi”, are also looking for ways to take a step further in creating sustainable shopping habits and motivate buyers to shop more and more consciously. The pilot project of smart bags is an effective way to combine the trader’s experience with innovative technological possibilities and expertise in environmental issues, so that every buyer can not only improve their everyday life, but also strengthen the local natural diversity,” says Zanda Šadre, head of corporate responsibility and communication at “Rimi Baltic”. .

The partner of the pilot project in Latvia is the World Nature Fund, which will implement the practical part of the project – tree planting and management.

“We are sure that we will achieve a tangible result in the Rimi shopping innovation pilot project, which will help to make Latvia’s nature richer. The responsiveness and activity of buyers is very important for a good result – we will evaluate it at the end of this summer. In this project, making an environmentally friendly choice is simple and does not require a large investment, but its purpose is practical – the creation of a new forest area. We plan that the planting of the first trees – oaks, lindens, spruces, black alders and birches – will take place already this fall,” emphasizes Jānis Rozītis, director of the World Wide Fund for Nature and head of the forest program.

The authors of the pilot project of smart and sustainable shopping bags are the Austrian start-up “goodbag”. Their idea has received funding for the implementation of a pilot project at the 2023 Rimi retail hackathon, standing out among 52 startups from 15 countries. The start-up “goodbag” already has experience in implementing similar pilot projects in Austrian and Portuguese retail chains, but cooperation with “Rimi” is the first experience in the Baltic market.

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