French retailer Carrefour showed what the stores of the future might look like by opening a mini-supermarket in a huge mall in the UAE, AP reported.
At first glance, this Carrefour looks like any regular convenience store with shelves lined with snacks and drinks. However, only customers who have a special store application on their smartphones can enter the supermarket, but there are no cash registers inside. A sophisticated array of shelf sensors and nearly 100 small surveillance cameras track customers' movements as they fill their carts. Five minutes after customers leave, messages with receipts for purchases are sent to their phones, and the money is withdrawn from the card.
Retailers around the world are trying to take advantage of artificial intelligence and automate shopping in order to reduce labor costs, eliminate customer frustration with queues, and collect data on human behavior in the store at the same time. Carrefour, the ninth largest retailer in the world, does not stand aside.
True, customers should let Carrefour collect their information. The company promises not to share it, but not everyone likes the idea itself. Perhaps in the United Arab Emirates, known for having one of the highest per capita surveillance cameras in the world, this will not be a problem. But in the US, where such futuristic Amazon Go stores have opened, the issue of store access to confidential information has become a topic of discussion.