The Auchan Polska chain has launched the first autonomous store in Warsaw. The unattended facility is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Earlier, Żabka, among others, decided on a similar store format.
“The advanced solutions based on artificial intelligence technology used in the store are provided by the strategic partner of the project – Trigo. Poland is the first market where the Auchan Go store has been fully opened to consumers, after successful concept tests carried out in France“, the company wrote in a statement.
The first autonomous store of the Auchan chain
She added that “this is the smallest of Auchan’s shopping formats”, and “up to 30 customers can do quick and comfortable shopping without the need to use cash registers on an area of 75 sq m”.
“The store’s rich assortment offer includes over 1,000 products, including snacks, sandwiches, sushi, bread, drinks, dairy products, cheese, frozen food, BIO products, delicatessen and industrial products” – indicated in the release.
Autonomous store – how does it work?
The announcement explains how the stand-alone store works. It was stated that “it is enough to register your phone number and load a payment card”, and in the case of the Auchan network “each customer can do it freely and safely thanks to the use of the so-called sluice in which the terminal is placed in front of the entrance”.
The system installed in the store uses vision cameras with sensors equipped with shelf scales. “Acting with high precision, it identifies the movements of each customer and automatically counts the products collected from the shelves (excluding those put back), generating their digital shopping baskets in real time. The payment is made automatically right after the customer leaves the store, along with sending it to his digital receipt phone,” the message explained.
Autonomous stores in Poland
Auchan is not the first chain that allows customers in Poland to use autonomous stores. Żabka chain has already opened such stores. The first Żabka Nano store opened in June 2021 in Poznań. According to the company, such stores are located, among others, in in places where – due to limited space or legal requirements – a standard branch of the Żabka chain would not fit, e.g. in office buildings, fitness clubs or dormitories.
The bluemedia.pl portal indicated that Carrefour has stores with a self-service sales model based on the technology of vending machines, and the Take&GO chain has self-service stores where entry and payment are made using a QR code in the application.
Main photo source: press materials