Carrefour opens hi-tech contactless shop in Paris

Carrefour unveils a new till-less shopping concept in Paris: Carrefour Flash 10/10 promises shoppers that they can shop in 10 seconds and only need 10 seconds to pay.

60 cameras, 2000 sensors

Carrefour now has its own Amazon Go alternative in Paris. Carrefour Flash 10/10 is a high-tech, till-less shop where cameras and sensors register which products consumers put in their shopping bags. In the checkout area, customers only need to confirm and pay for their purchases. They no longer have to take anything out of their bag or put it on the belt.

Sixty HD cameras and almost 2,000 sensors are built into the shop shelves. These allow customers to be followed anonymously as a virtual avatar, which is assigned to them as soon as they enter the shop. The products they pick up are also automatically detected and then added to their virtual basket.

When people have finished shopping, they have their basket validated at a kiosk and pay contactless. By scanning a QR code, they immediately receive an electronic receipt. For customers who want to pay with cash, an automatic checkout is also available.

After one year of testing

The Flash 10/10 shop is a test store, where a limited daily assortment of 900 products is available. The name of the concept stands for the promise that customers only need “10 seconds to shop and 10 seconds to pay”. The high-tech shop is not unmanned: there are four employees who maintain the shop and keep an eye on things. They are also responsible for preparing online orders, as the shop is also a “click&collect” point for pedestrians.

This is not the first cashless shop for Carrefour. That honour was bestowed on a branch in Dubai, operated by franchise partner Majid Al Futtaim. For the technology, Carrefour works together with AiFi, the specialist in till-less shops who is also partner of Albert Heijn and Wundermart. The opening in Paris follows a test of over a year at the Carrefour headquarters in Massy.