Carrefour and convenience store group Nisa are piloting a new technology that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons attached to trolleys and baskets to track a shopper’s journey around the store.
The mobile app, built in collaboration with electronics shelf label supplier Pricer, allows shoppers to scan barcodes at home or search for recipe ideas to build their grocery list. Once in the supermarket the app automatically peaks up the signal from the Bluetooth beacons and display a map with the precise location of the user. The user can be navigated to any product on his shopping list and get a personalised shopping route based on what is in its electronic basket in the app. In the coming weeks the beacon located at the entrance of the supermarket will be iBeacon-enabled so they will be able to wake up the iPhone app upon the entrance of the customer. The app will also soon offer geo-push of coupons and other type of promotions based on the location and profile of the user.
Three Carrefour locations in Madrid are participating in the trial along with three Nisa stores in London. Merchants are then provided with data on how shoppers move around their store, including their overall time in the store and how long they spend in particular product aisles. Data is currently collected anonymously but an app that would enable location data to be tied to an individual customer is due to be added in the future.
Carrefour has also equipped its new flagship store in a Paris suburb. This 12,000 sq meters store has been fully equipped with the beaconstoo; about 200 of them provide indoor geolocation with 2 meter accuracy.
