The app is known, among other things, because rapper Smudo of the German hip hop group “Die Fantastischen Vier” participated in its development. It has already been downloaded over a million times to date.
The luca principle is quite simple: Each store adds its location digitally and displays a QR code in the shop window. Customers download the app to their smartphones, enter their contact details, scan the QR code, and check in at the store. Now, if infections with the coronavirus are reported, the local health department can track contacts in the store via the encrypted system within a very short time and quickly break chains of infection.
Call to customers to download the app
Joanna Fisher, CEO of ECE Marketplaces and member of the ACROSS Advisory Board, said, “We look forward to serving our customers–with all the necessary prevention measures and requirements in place. In this context, we and the retailers rely on the luca app at all our 100 centers as well as the 50 retail parks of our joint venture MEC, which enables simple contact tracking in line with data privacy requirements.”
And Andreas Hohlmann, Managing Director Germany of URW and also a member of the ACROSS Advisory Board, said, “Even if the app can only be used gradually in the coming days, some political decisions are still pending and there will of course always be alternative ways of storing one’s contact details, it would be great if as many customers as possible downloaded the app now so that shopping will be as uncomplicated as possible in the future.”
