All-Automated C-Store Unveiled in Poland

Auchan Retail (Croix, France) has opened the first fully autonomous store within its Auchan GO convenience-store concept. Located in Warsaw, Poland, the new cashier-free store is open 24/7 and allows customers to shop “in a quick, comfortable and seamless way,” the retailer says in a news release.

“The Auchan GO concept is the latest of our solutions that we introduce to provide our customers with unparalleled comfort and a highly personalized shopping experience,” says Katarzyna Tokarewicz, Director of Transformation and Projects at Auchan’s Polish unit. “We are constantly observing how the needs of today’s consumers change dynamically, hence the large variety of shopping paths we offer and our focus on combining digital solutions with new concepts of brick-and-mortar stores. In the case of the Trigo [Tel Aviv, Israel] platform introduced in Auchan GO, we particularly appreciate its exceptional accuracy and reliability, as well as the flexibility and scalability of the solution.”

Here’s how the Auchan GO store works: Before starting to shop, customers swipe their payment card and register their phone number at a terminal at the store’s entrance. The store is equipped with specialized vision cameras and on-shelf sensors which works together to collect data on every shopper-product interaction undertaken in the store, generating digital shopping baskets in real time to enable seamless checkout. Payment is made automatically just after the customer leaves the store, with a digital receipt then sent to his/her phone.

The company did not detail any further rollout plans for the technology. Founded in 1996, Auchan has 2100 stores in 13 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa in the hypermarket, supermarket, convenience stores, click-and-collect and e-commerce formats.