Carrefour is testing the integrated use of VusionGroup’s latest technologies in a hypermarket in Villabé, South of Paris, for planogram compliance, label verification, on-shelf availability, digital shelf labelling and precise product instore location. The retail giant trials as first retailer in Europe VusionGroup’s EdgeSense platform with integrated, connected shelf rails, digital shelf labels, artificial intelligence, and the computer vision system Captana.
VusionGroup has already announced a second pilot of the EdgeSense technology in a smaller store format of Carrefour – a supermarket. The retail giant follows in the footsteps of the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, which co-developed the EdgeSense solution with VusionGroup and is now rolling it out across its store network in the United States.
While it is Carrefour’s first store deploying VusionGroup’s EdgeSense technology that powers labels and sensors via the shelf edge rail, the technology vendors planogram compliance solution Captana is not completely new to the retail giant. Carrefour has already installed Captana cameras for out-of-stock detection in 35 of its stores.
Significant operational efficiencies anticipated
In its hypermarket in Villabé Carrefour has now installed 70,000 electronic labels, 500 cameras, and 7,000 EdgeSense rails. “We are proud to be the first retailer in Europe to roll-out this technology” explains Sarah Maisonhaute, Chief Product Officer, Store Digital Factory at Carrefour. The solutions were designed to simplify daily tasks for store teams by providing intelligent, data-driven tools that identify priority actions such as pricing, promotions, and restocking and guide staff to execute them efficiently. “A Bluetooth connection allows the devices to communicate, enabling real-time data centralisation”, Maisonhaute details.
The integrated solution lets the digital labels flash, for example, to guide employees during e-commerce order preparation. Furthermore, the labels and sensors are now mounted directly onto the connected rails, eliminating the need for tedious manual battery replacement. For customers, the long-term benefits include a more seamless shopping experience, quicker product searches, and the potential for personalised services accessed via smartphones.
