Cloudpick Spearheads Frictionless Shopping in France with a first Auchan Go store at EDHEC Business School
November 29, 2021
Asia
Cloudpick, the leading provider of AI-based smart store solutions to the retail industry, in partnership with the leading French multinational retailer Auchan, today announced the official launch of Auchan’s first autonomous convenience store in Lille, France.
The opening of the Auchan Go smart convenience store at the Lille campus of the EDHEC Business School demonstrates how quickly forward-thinking companies can adopt effective solutions. “We couldn’t be prouder to see our turn-key solution at use on the campus of one of the leading international business schools,” says Jeff Feng, CEO at Cloudpick.
Cloudpick is utilizing 3D reconstruction technology in which the physical store and the people within it are converted into a digital version where everything, including shelves, the products, staff members and customers become a unique part of the digital landscape. This enables AI systems to detect which customer is interacting with a certain product, or whether they favour a particular product category, providing specific insights on customer behaviour which can be used to personalize their experience, and the change the way the business communicates with its customers.
The smart store has been operational since September to enable the remote functioning of the school and supplies the campus’ 4000+ students and staff with their daily essentials.
The prominent rise of smart stores worldwide shows that retail is changing for good. Today’s customers have little time for queues at registers, and even contactless payment and self-checkout may soon become a mere steppingstone toward the ultimate shopping experience.
Besides helping store-based retailers step into the future with cutting-edge technology, this turn-key solution offers ultimate customer convenience. And from the retailer’s point of view, it enables more effective floorspace use, remote stock-management, and robust analytics, in addition to facilitating the opening of the store potentially at all hours. Much of the actual management of the store can even be carried out remotely.
“Cathay Innovation is proud to back Cloudpick as it continues to break ground and to lead the way toward the future of shopping around the world”, said Gwenn Delamaire, Group Managing Director at Cathay Capital. “We are delighted that the Cathay ecosystem was able to bring Auchan and Cloudpick together to innovate and empower the experience of EDHEC’s students and staff.”
Earlier implementation of intelligent checkout-less stores led to cost restrictive RFID tags on every display, but Cloudpick, with its “grab & go” concept, uses a more straightforward and elegant course of action. Computer vision with sensor fusion and deep learning technology keep track of shoppers and their purchases, as well as stock levels, with near flawless precision whether the customer carries the product in hand, or even puts it straight into a pocket or backpack. Cloudpick’s technology does not use face recognition solutions, nor does it collect customer biometric information which guarantees the highest level of customer privacy.
“In many ways the rapid evolution of the industry has been driven by e-tail and modern customers’ demand for convenience, but recent worldwide health concerns have also been an important driver,” says Jeff Feng. “Store-based retailers can breathe easy nonetheless. Checkout-free intelligent stores not only offer convenience to customers, but also hold many benefits for retailers.”
Cloudpick launched its first unmanned store at a university campus in 2019. They recently opened a new store at the National University of Singapore. As of today, the company has powered more than 190 autonomous stores globally.
About Cloudpick
Cloudpick was founded in 2017 with the aim of providing AI-based smart store solutions to the retail industry. Built on computer vision, machine learning and multi-sensor integration technologies, the self-developed patented behavior recognition and product learning algorithm engine Cloudpick++, is able to accurately identify product information and customer shopping behaviors, and provide “Grab & Go, senseless payment” smart retail experience to global customers. This enables traditional “Brick and Mortar” stores to turn into highly digitized and intelligent cashierless smart stores.
The core technical team comes from a versatile background, including senior scientists and engineers from Silicon Valley. By 2021, Cloudpick had already established close to 190 stores in countries such as the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, or Singapore.
For more information, please visit www.cloudpick.com
About Auchan Retail France
Auchan is a multi-format, phygital retailer that combines all types of physical food retail formats (hypermarkets, convenience stores and ultra-convenience stores) with digital formats (so-called “drive” outlets, home delivery, click & collect) to offer its customers a pleasant shopping experience and a unique, fair and responsible offer. Residents are central to all of the company’s strategies. The aim is to make their lives easier through affordable prices, the choice and diversity of the offer, and quality of service. As a responsible economic actor, Auchan supports agriculture and the agri-food industry by working as closely as possible with its 64,000 employees at its 622 points of sale. In 2020, the brand recorded more than 336 million visits at its stores or retail sites.
About Cathay Innovation
Cathay Innovation is a global venture capital partnership, created in affiliation with Cathay Capital, investing in startups at the center of the digital revolution across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Its global platform unifies technology investment across continents, investors, entrepreneurs and leading corporations to accelerate startup growth with access to new markets, invaluable industry knowledge and introductions to potential partners from the start. As a multistage fund with over $1.5 billion assets under management and offices across San Francisco, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore, Cathay Innovation partners with visionary entrepreneurs and startups positively impacting the world through technology. To learn more, please visit www.cathayinnovation.com or follow us on Twitter @Cathayinnov.