30 Oct Learning expedition: two new concept stores in Paris

B.D.C. organises every year many Learning Expeditions in key retail destinations across the world: New York, London, Shanghaï, Istanbul or… Paris! During those immersive business trips, we organise tailored-made meetings with disruptive startups, local retailers, digital giants as well as retail tours. Here are 2 new concept stores that have just opened in Paris and you should know about it. 

New Saint Maclou concept store

Saint Maclou is a key player for home decoration in France. The retailer recorded £ 199 millions revenues in 2017, has 152 stores and more than 1,500 employees. Few years ago, Saint Maclou launched a vast transformation program of its brand and stores.

The new Saint Maclou concept store in Paris has been entirely focused on discovery, creativity and decoration of spaces through tactile terminals that allow customers to scan every products on display. On a total surface of 150 m2, it upsets the traditional approach of a Saint Maclou’s store. In this place, there is no self-service: all sampled products are indeed delivered to customers or available in a collection point.

Independently or accompanied by a seller, customers simply present any product label on the reading touch to virtually visualise the product, its specific features, and concrete renderings. Those terminals are everywhere in the showroom, for every products category, in order to assist visitors in their choice.

Saint Maclou scanning system in-store

Another innovation, and not least, is a large touch table associating a panel of products that allows clients to design the complete decoration of a room. This digital service is the result of a partnership with the French startup Taktus that imagines and realises customer experiences based on tactile technologies and object recognition. For the Saint Maclou experimental showroom, the startup has designed this table named the “3D workshop” that gives customers the opportunity to interact by selecting sampled materials.

Table touch “3D workshop”

This table gives customers the opportunity to interact by selecting sampled materials. Taktus has modeled 3 apartments of different inspiration: Haussmann, contemporary and studio. After opting for the interior matching us the most, it is possible to choose and visualise each element of its decoration by simply placing a sample on the table. The customer thus has both the texture of the product, via the sample, and its real scale rendering, thanks to the projected 3D images. Once the project is built, customers can save it and send it to themselves by email to take the time to think. The file received will summarise all the chosen references to facilitate subsequent ordering. 

Table touch “3D workshop”

4 Casino – new grocery store, the French Amazon Go 

Very close to the Champs Elysees, Casino has just opened a new 400-square-meter store including a deli department, a selection of Casino-branded food products (organic and vegan products), a wine cellar and a showroom for home decoration. The shop, which is largely equipped with screens, allows customers to shop 24/24 with their smartphone (via the Casino app) and to pay online. For non-holders of the app, who therefore have access to the store only between 7:30 am and 10 pm, four “self-check-out” cashiers have been installed. Also as the store is located in a very touristic area, all payment solutions are accepted including Alipay, WeChat Pay and Union Pay.

Like in Amazon Go, customers shop by scanning the Casino app

To attract guests to this business district, there are catering services available, including a “croque-monsieur” bar and a coffee corner, and a free co-working space has also been designed. A furniture showroom from the French Ecommerce website Cdiscount (a subsidiary of Casino) is also available and allows customers to test products and order them online. In the showroom, beyond the exhibition area of ​​its deco offer, the e-tailer also offers a connected mirror which is probably more of a gadget at this time. The mirror recognises the age and the gender of the visitor and suggests a selection of products based on the best sales and notes aligned with the visitor’s profile.

Visible from the street, the augmented reality digital shopping windows deliver a whole new experience for shoppers before they even enter the store.

Once in the store, visitors can place their orders from a giant digital wall giving access to the products available on Casino’s website, with home delivery the same evening if the order was placed in the morning (or next day if the order is placed in the evening).

In addition, to facilitate the customer journey, a terminal “route” was installed in the center of the store, just before the lifts and stairs – called “OK Max”. It aims to easily find the products in the store. Say “OK max, where is the tarama?” and the path is displayed on a map reconstructed in 3D. The gondola where the product is displayed and a simple scan on the screen, the customer can receive the plan directly on his smartphone. Casino worked with Google Assistant for voice recognition. In order to facilitate the dialogue with foreigners, the solution is also available in Spanish, English and Chinese.

There is also a original cellar with a connected service. Even though a wine expert is present the whole time, a service developed with the startup Twil allows the customer to scan the bottle to get the visual of it on a digitalised table with name, features and notes… According to what type of alcohol the visitor will search on the iPad (by price range, age or others), the display wall in front of him will directly highlights the relevant bottles.

Connected service for the cellar in store

Finally on the back-office side, cameras provided by Panasonic have been installed to detect linear breaks, among others. The start-up XXII, specialist in artificial intelligence and AR / VR, also contributed to design this system of intelligent video. Sensors have also been installed at the level of the fresh rays to measure the temperature curves. For this part, Casino has selected IBM’s Watson IoT solution, which also provides dashboards and warning systems to ensure the right temperature level.

To conclude, this new grocery store has been seen as an innovation lab for Casino where the retailer can test technologies and, in case of success, deploys the relevant ones in France and internationally.