Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

FRENCH retail giant Carrefour opened a smart retail store in Shenzhen yesterday, featuring multiple technologies such as self-service checkout and facial recognition payment supported by Tencent’s popular social media app WeChat.

Located in Nanshan CBD, the store in Shenzhen was the first smart outlet launched by the French retailer in southern China, after its first high-tech store “Carrefour Le Marche” was opened in the center of Shanghai last May.

The 4,000-square-meter store features 25,000 products mostly in food, 20 percent of which are imported products, as well as cosmetics and fashion products. It offers free home delivery service within three kilometers for any purchases in the store over 188 yuan (US$29), in-house cooking services and 18 self-service checkout counters.

Customers can then either pay with WeChat Pay and leave via a designated passageway, or activate the facial recognition function embedded in the digital wallet at the counter.

The store is also equipped with moving robots peddling snacks and drinks along the aisles.

Thierry Garnier, CEO of Carrefour China, said the smart store aims to bring a new shopping experience to digitally savvy consumers by embracing new technologies.

“We are positive that our cooperation with Tencent, which covers such areas as smart retail, mobile payment, in-store experience and data analysis will further boost Carrefour China’s customer traffic,” said Garnier, adding that the retailer sees China as a testing field for new retail methods.

In addition to Tencent, the French retailer has also forged partnerships with three major domestic on-demand delivery platforms including Meituan, Ele.me and JD Daojia to boost the integration of its online and offline services.

For Carrefour, these partnerships are part of its endeavors to stem a decline in sales in China amid competition from local rivals and a buoyant online market.

On Feb. 28, Carrefour said in a statement that the company’s total annual sales increased by 1.4 percent to 85 billion euros (US$95.51 billion) over the same period last year, with profits up by 4.6 percent.

The group’s general performance in China improved last year, with profits rising substantially to reach 350 million yuan, a growth of 11 times year on year, said the statement.