From fully autonomous outlets to cutting-edge smart carts, retail stores are becoming more modernised than ever before, offering more seamless transactions as well as increased personalised experiences. With that being said, here are some trendsetters to watch out for in Europe in 2024.
1. Auchan Go
Auchan Retail Poland launched the first fully autonomous store within its in Auchan GO concept, last year, with ambitious plans for it to pave the way for forty similar outlets over the next few years. Located in Warsaw, Poland became the first market to have a fully operational Auchan Go following tests of the frictionless concept in France. Before entering Auchan GO, customers must swipe their payment card and register their phone number via a terminal located at the store’s entrance. Once inside, an EasyOut Trigo system uses specialised vision cameras together with on-shelf sensors to collect data on every shopper-product interaction undertaken in the store. Digital shopping baskets are generated in real time while payment is made automatically just after the customer leaves the store.
2. Carrefour
Seeking to elevate the in-store customer experience, retail giant Carrefour introduced 15 innovative ‘smart carts’ at its Parisian store in Sainte Geneviève des Bois, last year. The cutting-edge shopping trolleys blend technology with convenience through integrated touchscreens, camera systems, and scales. Beyond simply tallying up the purchase total for shoppers, the touchscreen interface enables direct payment via an integrated card terminal, while also showcasing ongoing promotions and discounts.
As well as this, the smart cart technology can provide Carrefour with invaluable data on consumer shopping patterns for future marketing strategies. Additionally, the built-in weight system enhances security measures, making self-scanning a safer process and consequently reducing instances of theft or shrinkage. Watch out for further expanison of this tehncology across Europe in the months and years to come.
3. H&M Group
H&M Group reportedly began testing a series a new retail invvoations and its renovated stores last year. This included one store in Barcelona where the retailer was said to be using hologram models offer customers a new way to visualize garments without trying them on. The system worsk via a QR code that customers can scan to choose their model from an array of different sizes and skin tones. They can then choose clothing to try. In a bid to ramp up social content the store also includes completely mirrored “social” fitting rooms, supplied by future retail agency Outform, enabling shopppers to get that perfect shot.
4. Konzum
It is still less than a year since Croatian supermarket chain Konzum opened its first ‘smart’ store in the south-eastern European region. Located in Zagreb, the store is completely cashierless. The retailer uses computer vision for identification based on an AI recognition system supplied by California-based technology company i5. Payment is automatically made through a debit or credit card account stored in the app, enabling shoppers to simply take the items that they want off the shelf, and walk out. Interstingly, another feature that encourages greater efficiency is joint shopping. For instance, if a couple comes to the store, the items that each person chooses from the shelf are charged on one bill. In total, approximately 150 cameras have been installed to help monitor the items customers pick from the shelves alowoing the retailer to charge only for those items they take out of the store.
5. Sensei
Billled as Europe’s largest fully autonomous store when it launched, last year, Sensei introduced the store as a test lab to develop and test new autonomous store technologies. The ‘Dojo’ retail facility, which is based in Lisbon, was created in collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and is 500m2 in size. The technology behind the concept, however, is scalable for retail spaces ranging from 150m2 to 1500m2. Its new features include gateless entry and exit, and an automatic card payment terminal where purchases are displayed in real-time at the end of a shop, so customers can shop without using an app.
