A checkout-free store debuted at this year’s French Open tennis tournament through a collaboration between Zippin, Sodexo Live! and Fujitsu.

This was claimed to be the first public autonomous store in France.

Housed in a historic building at the Auteuil Greenhouses near Court Simonne-Mathieu, the 58-square-metre store offered a variety of cold sandwiches, pre-packaged beverages and snacks. Tennis fans simply tapped a payment method to enter, select their items and left.

California-based Zippin’s checkout-free platform uses AI, computer vision and sensor fusion to determine purchases accurately and automatically bill shoppers upon exiting the store. There are no queues, no scanning and no mobile app required. 

Following the success of the Zippin-powered American Express Shop at the US Open (www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=mg4iquZV2ls) for the past two years, this shopping experience lets visitors enjoy more of their time at one of tennis’ most prestigious events. Whether grabbing a quick snack between sets or stocking up on tournament merchandise, the Zippin-powered store can make shopping faster and effortless.

In a Sports Business Journal article about the store, Paul Pettas, vice president at Sodexo Live!, called the store a success and expressed enthusiasm for the checkout-free store experience.

“We’re certainly very excited to see how it develops and grows,” he said. “We’re excited to see how we can bring it to life in an even better way next year.”

Krishna Motukuri, CEO of Zippin, highlighted the nature of this installation, emphasising the minimal impact the checkout-free conversion had on the historic building.

“The fact that we needed to make minimal changes to the building meant that all the components that we used are portable, modular, and require the least amount of changes to the space,” Motukuri said.

Zippin’s portfolio of high-profile event installations also includes the Fifa World Cup and the Super Bowl.

More details about the installation can be found at www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/06/12/french-open-zippin-sodexo-live-fujitsu.

To learn more about checkout-free technology for stores, go to www.getzippin.com/#theform.