OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2012. X5 Retail Group N.V. (“X5 or the Company”), OJSC RUSNANO and OJSC RTI announced today the opening of the Perekrestok supermarket “Store of the Future” (the “Store”) located on the territory of the Company’s Moscow office. This innovative joint project represents a unique venture in the Russian and global retail industry by combining cutting-edge technologies for retail operations and customer service. Currently, only X5 employees and guests of the Company’s Moscow office can shop at the Store.

The sales area of the pilot Store amounts to 234 square meters and the assortment includes 5,300 products. The Store employs advanced technologies and equipment, which allow it to operate without cashiers and salespeople. All items in the Store are marked with Radio Frequency Identification (“RFID”) tags, which facilitate product monitoring from the vendor to distribution centers and further to the Store’s shelves. It also allows the Store director to control product expiry dates, collect information on quantity and assortment on the shelves and to prevent the delivery and acceptance of pirated products. The use of the RFID technology allows the customer to scan all of the selected products at the same time and instantly calculate an electronic bill. This technology is also effective in preventing theft and shrinkage.

Using the new technology to improve the shopping process at the Store is very simple. First, the customer selects products from the trade floor, puts them into a basket and proceeds to the automated cash pay-office (the “Identifier”). Then, after loading the basket with the selected products into a special scanner-compartment located within the Identifier, the customer inserts the special client card into the readout device and the terminal screen displays the list of selected products and the total price. The products are scanned simultaneously, which significantly decreases check-out times, and payment is then performed via a special terminal that accepts cash, credit cards and Pay Pass payments.

Stephan DuCharme, Acting-Chief Executive Officer of Х5 Retail Group N. V. commented:

“Х5 has taken a leading role in promoting and applying the most advanced technology in the food retail industry. We are grateful to our partners in the joint project for their hard work and contributions, which have resulted in the successful creation of the Store of the Future. We hope that this unique and improved shopping experience will soon be available to more of X5 ’s customers. ”

Georgiy Kolpachev, Managing Director of RUSNANO commented:

“We are certain that this is the first step toward the universal application of RFID technology in the retail industry. The introduction of the new technology decreases expenses for all market participants and demonstrates the benefits of cross industry collaboration to improve processes and results. The widespread introduction of RFID during our lifetime will improve our quality of life and create new markets for Russian and foreign hi-tech companies. ”

Sergey Boyev, RTI General Director commented:

“The consolidation of high tech assets under the umbrella of RTI, has created the conditions for the design of innovative products and solutions. The “Store of the Future” is an example of the