Carrefour Belgium works with retail technology startup Reckon AI on BuyBye autonomous micro store
Carrefour Belgium has this week opened its smallest store in Belgium, measuring just 18 sqm.
Carrefour BuyBye is located at the retailer’s Belgian headquarters in Zaventem (near Brussels).
The autonomous store consists of a series of refrigerated vending machines where customers can purchase lunch, snacks, cold drinks and fruit.
Shoppers need to download the Carrefour Buybye app, create an account and add a payment method before they can use the app to open the machines, take out products and check-out.
Initially, this will be open Monday to Friday from 7am to 10pm to start with, but from January it will be available seven days a week.
It is the result of a collaboration with startup Reckon AI, which specialises in micro-stores equipped with artificial intelligence.
Plans are afoot to roll-out the concept to Carrefour Belgium’s existing physical stores.
Latin America
Earlier this year, the first autonomous Carrefour Flash store opened in Latin America.
Tapping Go2Future miniGO technology and using cameras on the ceiling and sensors integrated into the shelves, this is a 50 square metre store located in Argentina, in the town of Pilar, a province of Buenos Aires.
Via an app, the products that customers choose are automatically loaded into a virtual cart and payment is made upon leaving, without the need to use a traditional checkout. It is also possible to buy online and pick up in-store or request home delivery.
“We are excited to be able to implement innovative purchasing alternatives in Argentina,” said Pablo Lorenzo, CEO at Carrefour Argentina.
“We listen to our clients and customers and we know that speed and simplicity are essential characteristics when going to stores. We seek to be up to the task and we hope that in Carrefour Flash they will find an ideal shopping experience.”
“We are an Argentine startup that provides solutions based on artificial intelligence to eliminate friction in modern retail. In a technological partnership with Carrefour Argentina, we developed the chain's first autonomous store in the country,” commented Eduardo Luis Koglot, CEO at Go2Future.
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