No queues, no boxes, no cash ... So are the new supermarkets


No queues, no boxes, no cash ... So are the new supermarkets


The Amazon model has its adaptation in Spanish hypermarkets. The high competition has forced supermarkets to reinvent the concept of physical stores



    Supermarkets where you do not have to wait for queues to pay, nor wait for a turn when buying a kilo of chicken. The shopping list is on your mobile and you do not have to wander the aisles without finding the fried tomato. Everything we hate to go shopping can disappear with technology. The high competition is forcing supermarkets to reinvent the concept of physical stores where their customers use the mobile not only to send whatsapps while they buy, but to interact with the store.

The enemy to beat is Amazon. Not content with taking out an online purchase service for fresh products in many Spanish markets (Amazon Prime), they launch into the world of physical stores. A few weeks ago they presented a Seattle (USA) establishment in which customers make the purchase without going through cash , all thanks to the technology and sensors installed in the products. This titanic competition has put the batteries to the food sector in Spain that think about technology and innovation like never before.

    The day to day of the clients goes very fast, they do not have time to lose", explains Elodie Mulliez, head of development of the 'app' of Alcampo. The French group has been the first to install in its Spanish hypermarkets a scanning system for the products ('ScanYou') that allows you to make the shopping list electronically from home, reach the supermarket, put the food in the basket and return to house without having to go through the box. The truth is that the box is passed, but eliminates the tedious moment of queuing, putting the products one by one on the tape or have to make a tetris to put them back in the car.

-How does it work?

-After reaching the store, a bluetooth connection is established with the customer's mobile phone with beacons ("beacons") installed in the establishment. Every product you want to buy is scanned with the 'smartphone' and it goes into the basket. The food is appearing on the phone screen, which allows us to know its characteristics, if we are missing something and what the total amount is. At the end, it goes to the 'friendly boxes', where the code of the mobile is read and you only have to pay.

Mulliez assures that the Alcampo application does not only serve for this. It also allows you to take turns in the fruit shop while we are in another hallway and when you touch you send a notification. It prevents the client from getting lost in the supermarket looking for a certain product and shows him exactly where he is on the map. "The shopping list can be prepared with the mobile phone from home by scanning the bar codes of the products that are running out, or manually. In addition, you can invite other people to the list and let each one choose what they want to buy. " The 'app' is available for iOS and Android from a year ago, time in which they have exceeded 120,000 users.


No waiting
And waiting is one of the least pleasant moments for the client. Hence, other chains such as Carrefour or Eroski have used technology to implement the so-called 'Single Row', by which a message on screen and audio tells the customer the free box number so that he can pay and the times are reduced. The gala company has tested in Spain a pilot experience of a system for scanning products with a gun that read bar codes, but it does not finish.

From the Basque distribution group they assure that "taking advantage of technological opportunities", they launched in 2016 the 'Ekilibria' program that offers members a personalized and confidential monthly report comparing their purchases with the scientific recommendations for a balanced diet.

In the same line of transformation towards digital, Carrefour inaugurated last July in Madrid its first Innovation Center in our country. It employs 240 people in IT, e-commerce and digital marketing projects, among others. "The objective is to regroup in this space the entire ecosystem of digital transformation of the company and to remain a benchmark for the digitalization of 'retail' in Spain," they say.

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