Carrefour Belgium Selects My-Scan Self-Scanning

Re-Vision, a world-leading provider of self-scanning solutions, and Carrefour Belgium, the Belgian retailer, have announced the further roll-out of the self-scanning technology to more Carrefour stores in Belgium. The first phase of this joint project involves implementing self-scanning throughout 40 stores.

Carrefour Belgium was the first in Carrefour Group to introduce the innovative shopping method of self-scanning with Re-Vision in a pilot store in September 2009. The new technology quickly gained a high level of customer acceptance, largely due to the progressive marketing campaign developed by Carrefour Belgium. Based on this successful pilot, Carrefour started to roll-out the system, in March 2010, to its hypermarkets and integrated supermarkets across Belgium.

Self-scanning is a modern shopping method whereby customers use a mobile device to self-scan items while shopping. The system implemented in the Belgian Carrefour shops is called My-Scan, and consists of a pool of portable barcode scanners (50 to 250, depending on the size of the store). To use a scanner, the customer must swipe their Carrefour Bonus Card at the store entrance, after which he or she can proceed with self-scanning barcodes on the products as they shop. Having finished the shopping trip, the customer can proceed directly to the payment station, without the need to wait in line at a traditional checkout.

This approach enables customers to have an enriched shopping experience: first, they save time by not having to place groceries on the conveyor belt and repack; instead, they can directly pack the goods from the shelves into their bags. Second, waiting time is reduced, as the client proceeds to a self-payment kiosk or a reserved counter. The hand-scanner also helps customers to manage their spending budget — a list of all the goods in their basket, as well as the total amount of the purchase, is visible on the screen at any time. At Carrefour Belgium, a special marketing programme was developed to ensure that customers were aware of the benefits of self-scanning. People are naturally wary of new technology, however, research has shown that once someone has used self-scanning, they find it a fast and efficient way to shop and tend to stay loyal to the system, and hence to the store. Once the roll-out is complete, Carrefour Belgium hopes to have 25% of their customers using the system.

Michel Haagmans, Director at Re-Vision, says: “We believe that self-scanning will revolutionize shopping. Many leading European retailers are heavily investing in this technology as part of their growth strategy. We at Re-Vision are delighted that Carrefour has joined our rich portfolio of customers, which already includes Coop, Tesco and a number of other major European retailers. Our priority is to have customers up and running very quickly, so that they can see the return on investment within a short period of time.”

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