French retail chain Auchan has opened its first self-service store in Poland and announced further development of its autonomous concept.

Using its Auchan Go concept, the cashier-free store in Warsaw is open round the clock and allows customers to shop in a quick, comfortable and seamless way.

At the same time, the format features a wide product offering, that includes fresh products, standard for the Auchan brand.

The AI-powered technologies used in the store are provided by Israeli firm Trigo, whose technology enables frictionless shopping and automated operations.

Poland is the first market where the Auchan Go store is fully operational for shoppers, following successful tests of the frictionless concept in France.

“The Auchan Go concept provides our customers with unparalleled comfort and a highly personalised shopping experience,” said Katarzyna Tokarewicz, director at Auchan Polska. “We are constantly observing how the needs of today’s consumers change dynamically, hence the large variety of shopping paths we offer and our focus on combining digital with new concepts of brick-and-mortar stores. In the case of the Trigo platform introduced in Auchan Go, we particularly appreciate its exceptional accuracy and reliability, as well as the flexibility and scalability. This advanced system provides the technological capability to efficiently digitise and automate both small and larger store formats, with more shoppers and more product diversity. This approach fits in with our plans, as we treat the newly opened shop as a kind of laboratory. We assume that the Auchan Go concept will constantly evolve to meet the changing expectations of our customers.”

She said, ultimately, the plan was to open approximately 40 outlets of this type over the next few years.

The new Auchan Go – opened in Warsaw at Kasprzaka Street 29 – is the smallest of Auchan’s retail formats. Occupying an area of 75m², up to 30 shoppers can buy goods with no need to use cash registers.

The store offers more than 1000 products, including drinks and snacks, bread, dairy products, frozen food, bio products, delicatessen, and industrial products. Of particular note is the range of fresh produce, including meat, cold cuts and fruit. Auchan Go also offers freshly brewed coffee. More than 40% of the store’s range is Auchan’s private label products, including popular Pewni Dobrego branded products.

Before entering Auchan Go, shoppers need to swipe their payment card and register their phone number. This can be done securely thanks to a terminal at the store’s entrance.

Trigo’s EasyOut system uses vision cameras with on-shelf sensors. It collects data on every shopper-product interaction in the store, generating digital shopping baskets in real time to enable seamless checkout. Payment is made automatically just after shoppers leave the store, with a digital receipt then sent to their phone.

A privacy-by-design architecture means no biometric or facial recognition data are gathered or analysed by the system. This ensures shoppers are afforded full data protection in compliance with GDPR. 

“Trigo is delighted to introduce the first Poland Auchan store, supported by Trigo technology,” said Michael Gabay, CEO of Trigo. “Auchan is a prominent and forward-thinking player in the global grocery retail sector. Our inaugural store in Poland represents a significant advancement in frictionless payment options, further elevating the shopping experience. By enabling contactless card payment, we have enhanced the convenience and intuitiveness of the shopping process for a diverse customer base.”

The AI-driven technology platform offers the flexibility to accommodate various grocery formats and a full range of supermarket assortments.

Auchan has been present in Poland since 1996, managing on the Polish market a network of hypermarkets under the Auchan brand, supermarkets under the Auchan Supermarket brand, convenience stores under the Easy Auchan brand, neighbourhood stores under the Moje brand, autonomous stores under the Auchan Go brand, and an ecommerce channel. The chain also has franchise stores in the supermarket and hypermarket format.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Trigo is a computer vision company that works with retailers to convert their existing stores to enable frictionless shopping and data insights that drive revenue and optimise store operation.