Carrefour, Europe’s largest grocery retailer, opened its new Flash 10/10 concept store in Paris week, which uses similar technology featured in Amazon’s ‘just walk out’ Fresh stores, but with some key differences.
The French group’s convenience outlet was developed in collaboration with Californian start-up AiFi. It has nearly 900 everyday products on sale, which customers can put straight in their shopping bags without having to scan. Once finished, the customer’s shopping is automatically validated at a kiosk and they then pay by contactless card or cash (see video below).
Unlike Amazon’s hi-tech grocery format, customers are free to enter and exit the Flash 10/10 (10 seconds to shop and 10 seconds to pay) store without having to pass through a gateway. There is also no need to download an app or register beforehand.
Four staff will be on-hand to open the store and oversee its operation, and manage its e-commerce services, including pedestrian click & collect.
The automated experience is made possible by 60 HD cameras, nearly 2,000 sensors built into the connected shelves, an algorithm for interpreting all the data, and a proprietary tablet payment system. Customers are tracked anonymously as a virtual avatar, allocated to them as soon as they enter the store. The products that they pick up are automatically detected and then added to their virtual basket.
Carrefour has been testing the concept at its head office in Massy for over a year.
Elodie Perthuisot, the Carrefour Group’s Executive Director of E-Commerce, Data and Digital Transformation, said: “The Flash concept checks our customers’ expectations. They want to be able enter the store easily, know what they are buying, pay quickly and then leave.
“Compared with other existing concepts, with Carrefour Flash, customers get speed and accessibility in a unique way.”
NAM Implications:
- Unlike Amazon’s hi-tech grocery format, customers are free to enter and exit the Flash 10/10 (10 seconds to shop and 10 seconds to pay) store…
- …without having to pass through a gateway.
- There is also no need to download an app or register beforehand.
- This could make a difference…
