reta Award 2026: MediaMarktSaturn convinces with AI solutions for customers and employees
MediaMarktSaturn wins the reta Award 2026 in the "Customer Experience" category for the "Smart Manual" – an AI-powered solution that fundamentally improves traditional user manuals. In addition, the company reached the finals in the "Employee Empowerment" category with the "AI Repair Assistant".
Every year, the EHI Retail Institute honors international retail companies for outstanding technology projects. The two award-winning AI solutions from MediaMarktSaturn illustrate how artificial intelligence creates concrete added value for customers and employees.
"AI should solve real problems, create measurable added value and put people at the center – which is exactly what both solutions do. The Smart Manual makes product information accessible to our customers around the clock before, during and after the purchase and solves problems in a simple and understandable way in natural language. The AI Repair Assistant supports our colleagues in the stores and workshops in handling repairs faster and more precisely. Neither of these are pilot projects – they run productively, scale across the group and deliver demonstrable added value," explains Sascha Mager, Chief Data & AI Officer at MediaMarktSaturn.
Winner in the "Customer Experience" category: Smart Manual
The Smart Manual is an AI-powered chatbot for MediaMarktSaturn's private labels (KOENIC, PEAQ, ok. and ISY), which is available 24/7 via QR code or web link. The solution combines extensive internal product data, service documentation, FAQs and expert knowledge to provide much more precise and solution-oriented answers than a static operating manual. Currently, the Smart Manual covers more than 2,000 private label products and supports customers before and after their purchase. At the same time, employees in the store can also use the tool and thus provide even faster and more well-founded advice. In the first four months after the go-live, the Smart Manual recorded over 10,000 user enquiries – and the trend is rising. The result: fewer support requests, fewer returns and a noticeable strengthening of private labels. Another added value goes beyond direct customer interaction: digital use provides valuable, anonymized data on the most common customer questions and problems – insights that a printed manual could never provide. MediaMarktSaturn uses this to improve product development and service processes in a targeted manner. The solution was developed in partnership with Accesa.
Finalist Category "Employee Empowerment": AI Repair Assistant
MediaMarktSaturn carried out around 3 million repairs in the 2024/25 financial year. A central challenge here is so-called "No Failure Found" (NFF) cases – devices that have been returned without a detectable defect, often due to incomplete or unclear error descriptions at the time of acceptance. These cases cause unnecessary costs, transport routes and environmental pollution.
To solve the problem, MediaMarktSaturn integrated an AI-supported assistant into the repair process – the development and implementation took place within a few weeks. Based on generative AI and the latest Gemini models, the solution guides employees in the store through targeted, structured inquiries, thus improving the quality and completeness of repair orders right from the start.
The result since the rollout in May 2025: a 20 percent reduction in NFF cases, faster and more precise repairs, fewer unnecessary device shipments, higher first-time repair success rates and a seven-point increase in the Net Promoter Score in the AfterSales & Repairs area. The solution also reduces costs, strengthens customer confidence and makes a measurable contribution to sustainability and resource conservation. The solution was developed in partnership with ZES Electronic Repair-Logistics.
Artificial intelligence as part of the corporate strategy
MediaMarktSaturn consistently relies on AI solutions that bring measurable added value, are quickly scalable and are responsible. The success of the AI Repair Case based on the principle of "small lever, big effect" is an example of the fact that the best AI is not the most complex – but the one that solves a real problem at the right point in the process and supports people exactly when they need help.
Michael Stengl
Spokesperson AI & Technology
corporate-communications@mediamarktsaturn.com