French supermarket chain Carrefour has completed a pilot to try out smart shopping carts using equipment from A2Z Smart Technologies.

Since March last year, the smart trolleys have undergone testing at Carrefour’s flagship hypermarket store in Ste Genevieve Des Bois, near Paris, receiving positive feedback and achieving customer satisfaction.

As part of the rollout phase, Carrefour and A2Z subsidiary Cust2Mate are looking to deploy smart carts initially in two hypermarket stores towards the end of this year. This expansion should help Carrefour streamline its operations, improve customer satisfaction and stay ahead of the competition in the rapidly evolving retail market.

“We are seeing very, very positive feedback from customers at this store,” said Guillaume Cocovi, director at Carrefour. “Before launching this project, like any large company, we issued a call for proposals. We looked at what was happening in the market, and Cust2Mate was the company that offered us the product that best matched our expectations and put the most effort into supporting us in the deployment. We felt it right away. The relationship with the founders was very smooth, and the project started at full speed since the carts were already there. In just three months, the test could begin.”

The success of the pilot phase at Carrefour marks an important milestone for Cust2Mate and A2Z. With Carrefour being one of the largest retail chains globally, operating thousands of locations, the potential scope for Cust2Mate’s smart carts is vast. The positive feedback received from Carrefour customers solidifies the value and effectiveness of the smart cart.

“We are thrilled with the outcome of the pilot phase at Carrefour,” said Bentsur Joseph, CEO of Israeli firm A2Z. “The partnership with Carrefour has been incredibly valuable, and their satisfaction with our smart cart is a testament to our commitment to enhancing the retail experience. We are excited to move forward to the rollout phase and bring the benefits of our smart carts to Carrefour stores.”

Guy Mordoch, CEO of Cust2Mate, added: “We look forward to initiating the rollout in Carrefour hypermarket stores in Q4 this year. This collaboration reflects our commitment to revolutionising the shopping experience and providing Carrefour customers with enhanced convenience and efficiency. We look forward to further strengthening our partnership and driving innovation in the retail industry.”

A2Z’s flagship product, Cust2Mate, is a proven-in-use mobile self-checkout shopping cart. With its user-friendly smart algorithm, touch screen and computer-vision system, Cust2Mate streamlines the retail shopping experience by scanning purchased products and enabling in-cart payment so customers can simply pick and go, and bypass long cashier checkout queues.

Carrefour operates 13,650 stores under various banners, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, cash-and-carry outlets, and soft discount stores. It has 200 hypermarkets in France alone with about 1500 carts per location.