- Carrefour becomes the first grocer in Europe to use the EdgeSense solution
- The solution is currently being tested in a hypermarket in Villabé (France), with a second store (supermarket) coming soon
- A strategic partnership to digitalize shelves and invent the connected and omnichannel store of the future
- An enhanced customer and associate experience in stores and a better operating model
Carrefour, one of the world’s leading food retailers, announces a partnership with VusionGroup to launch a new generation of connected stores, based on EdgeSense and Captana technologies to digitalize shelves.
With EdgeSense – a cutting-edge tech platform developed by VusionGroup that combines smart rails system, computer vision (Captana), artificial intelligence (AI), electronic shelf labels and ultra-precise data – Carrefour is reshaping the in-store experience with four key objectives:
- Merchandising compliance, enabled by automated visual shelf monitoring
- Better on-shelf product availability, through real-time monitoring and automatic stockout detection
- Automated price and label compliance
- Precise product geolocation to improve the customer journey and optimize in-store e-Commerce picking
These innovations will reinvent the daily operations of store teams by equipping them with smart decision tools powered by Data and AI, identifying the most urgent tasks to be performed in aisles (pricing, promotions, restocking, etc.) and guiding them to execute these actions efficiently.
For consumers, this new generation of stores will offer numerous benefits: a smoother experience, time savings when searching for products, and personalized in-store services and recommendations. With EdgeSense, stores become intelligent media platforms capable of interacting with customers in real-time during their shopping journeys.
These technologies are currently being tested in a pilot store—the Carrefour hypermarket in Villabé (91)—where approximately 70,000 electronic shelf labels, 500 cameras, and 7,000 EdgeSense rails have been installed.
Carrefour is already gaining valuable insights from shelf cameras that detect out-of-stock items, with this technology from VusionGroup already deployed in 35 stores.
Emmanuel Grenier, Executive Director of e-Commerce, Data and Digital Transformation at Carrefour states: « Digitalization has long been at the heart of Carrefour’s strategy. Stores, which account for 90% of our revenue, are our top priority, and this partnership with VusionGroup marks a major milestone in their modernization through the EdgeSense platform. It enables us to turn the store into a digital asset central to our model, capable of combining operational excellence, enriched customer experience, and economic efficiency. Data precision, computer vision, and AI are essential levers to sustainably improve our in-store performance, especially in a context where every square meter counts. »
Thierry Gadou, Chairman and CEO of VusionGroup concludes: « With Carrefour, we share the same vision of a modernized store at the heart of tomorrow’s omnichannel commerce. This partnership is about bringing that vision to life in the coming years. Carrefour is the first major food retailer in Europe to adopt EdgeSense technology, following Walmart’s decision to roll it out across its stores in the United States. The goal is threefold: to significantly improve store performance, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. »
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