Le 4 Casino
This article solely reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily represent the views, positions, strategies or opinions of IBM or IBM management
On a trip to Paris last month, a few colleagues and I visited the new Le 4 Casino (L4C) concept store from Groupe Casino, its franchisee partner, Prodistribution, and a number of partners small and large (including IBM). Along with Alibaba's Hema, L4C is one of more impressive new store concepts I’ve seen in the past year; a great reinvention of the neighborhood grocery store. The store itself is under 5,000 square feet (bigger than a C-Store, but not a full-size supermarket) across three levels, and is configured to operate both staffed (for day and evening) and unstaffed (for nighttime – with only a security guard). The product emphasis is on fresh foods (produce, cheese / dairy, cured meats, etc.), with a small wine / liquor department, an edited assortment of dry grocery downstairs, and a heavy emphasis on prepared foods (which appears to be a big draw).
Overall, I really liked the store, and it’s especially impressive that Casino Group was able to get it up and running in such a short amount of time (apparently less than 6 months). It’s encouraging to see #IncumbentsStrikeBack, innovating their store concepts and embracing a try it, iterate it, and #failfast mentality.
Here are a few highlights.
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Best Features
- No barriers. It’s shoppable by everyone. My favorite aspect of L4C was that you can shop it in a highly automated, modern manner (scanning in, scanning items in the “Casino Max” app as you go through the store, and then scanning out). But you can also shop it like a “normal” store. During daytime hours, you can walk in without scanning, put items in a basket, and self-checkout or even check out with a cashier. Consumers tend to be creatures of habit, and some take longer than others to “learn” to shop in new ways. L4C’s approach embraces all shoppers, not just the digital early adopters.
- Technology that just works. There are a number of aspects of the store where the technology is seamlessly integrated into the shopping process. One is the use of the store app to scan. You scan to check-in, you scan items as you put them into your basket, and you scan again to check-out. Yes, it still requires a bit of learning, but as we are scanning other things with our phones (movie tickets, boarding passes) it’s no longer such a hurdle ... and I’m not sure the average consumer is yet ready to shop and “Just Walk Out.” L4C’s electronic shelf labels are another.
They are used throughout (enabling prices to be changed dynamically), but they don’t appear to be anything other than a normal shelf label. I especially liked the “chalkboard” style labels in the fresh produce area. This was also the first store where I’ve seen digital banners used on shelf facings (in the US, Kroger is rolling these out). They’re not interactive, but a definite upgrade over traditional shelf talkers, and a way to inject a bit of “fun” into an otherwise basic ad message; kind of a mini version of the digital signage one sees in a stadium.
- Intelligence under the hood. It’s not just customer-facing areas that have received an upgrade. Refrigeration equipment is monitored using IBM Watson IoT to better manage energy usage, monitor temperature and door openings, and alert to potential issues before they happen. And the store manages shrink using both computer vision (hundreds of in-ceiling cameras) as well as algorithms (e.g. comparing shopping duration against the number of items scanned), and can prevent exit (and/or trigger the security guard to assist) if the data falls outside of certain norms.
Great Ideas that Need Further Evolution
- Shoppable Walls – The store has a series of large touchscreen monitors to enable customers to shop for items that are not in the store, but available for home delivery. You shop by scanning the item with an app (a different app than the store app, but they are working to integrate them), which means multiple people can use it at the same time, overcoming an all-too-common barrier of many in-store tech solutions. And I appreciate that they have tried a different UX (items appear in different sizes, are not laid out in a traditional grid pattern, and each one can be swiped to see other similar items). That being said, using a different UX means that people have to learn how to shop it, and I imagine the uptake is slower than they want (even with “how to use” pages on the screens). One additional feature of this wall is that it’s an idea that can work anywhere, not just within a store, enabling shopping during otherwise passive times (e.g. metro / bus shelters, train stations, etc.).
- Digital Front Windows - The front windows on one side of the store are large flatscreen monitors with the ability to see 'through' the screens into the store, to see yourself (and overlay AR characters), and/or show digital content. They are an interesting use of the technology, and in the beginning, will no doubt help to entice passers-by to stop into the store. Over time, these will likely evolve into ongoing storytelling vehicles, and could even be re-purposed as an exterior Shoppable Wall for stores that can’t easily convert to a 24x7 location.
- Wine / Liquor Shopping Assistant – In the wine / liquor area, there are a couple nice features to improve the shopping process for what can be a challenging purchase. You can scan any wine bottle (using a fixed iPad) and information about that wine (region, alcohol content, food pairings, etc) is shown on the iPad and also projected onto a large table display. It’s a great way to get information (and made me realize my knowledge of French wine is lacking), but the technology is a bit clunky (it’s a separate app, the table display is not interactive) and feels like something that should be integrated into the store app rather than a stand-alone solution.
In the adjacent liquor area, there’s a product finder tool that lights up bottles on the wall display based on selections made using a kiosk-mounted tablet. I liked this idea, but it has a couple operational shortcomings. The bottles that light up are not meant to be picked up off the wall. You’re supposed to pull them off the shelves next to the display. However, the bottles are actually removable from the display. The average customer, unaware of how it’s meant to be shopped, could easily pull bottles off the display, and it would be easy for the bottles be put back into the wrong spot, wreaking havoc on the whole system during off-hours when the staff sommelier is not available to assist.
- Marketplace / Co-working Space. The upstairs of the store is dedicated to Casino’s online marketplace, Cdiscount. It’s laid out like a furniture showroommagine a smaller, showroom-only version of CB2), and in addition to furniture and home furnishings, features a number of best selling electronic / digital products available for purchase online (through large touchscreen displays). In the back, there’s a co-working space. I really like the idea of carving out part of the store (especially the upstairs, where it’s challenging to drive traffic) as a “third place,” to be used for co-working, events, showroom, or other flex space. However, the space still feels like a work in progress – part showroom (where it’s not clear that you’re allowed to sit at and use the furniture), and part co-working (which didn’t feel especially inviting), but not fully either.
Interesting for a Concept Store, but May Not Scale
- Voice-Enabled Kiosk – As with many new store concepts, there’s a voice-enabled kiosk, “Max” (you say “Ok Max” to begin the engagement). On the plus side, the kiosk provides useful information (location items in the store, product information, etc.) and does a good job filtering out background noise. That being said, I’m not sure if this needs a hardware solution. It feels like something that is better be triggered directly in the store app.
- Magic Mirror – One of the features of the Cdiscount showroom space is a magic mirror that scans you, estimates your age, and then suggests products based on what it sees. This was the only disappointing aspect of the store. Not only was the scanner significantly off for everyone in our group (luckily, it guessed young), the idea of suggesting products merely by knowing someone’s age didn’t seem as advanced as the store’s other capabilities.
Le 4 Casino Coworking
Overall, I came away really encouraged by the store itself, and by The Casino Group for putting it in place. Based on anecdotal discussions, I understand that the store sales are in line with expectations, and given the higher mix of fresh and prepared foods, it’s probably over-delivering on margin. Shrink is apparently in line with their other stores, despite the high use of self-scan and self-checkout. Further, this concept is quite scalable to virtually any neighborhood grocery store, and many of the technologies can be adapted to larger supermarkets or other store concepts. So all in all, quite a successful pilot, and helps Casino Group to establish a strong foundation for further innovation efforts.
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Le 4 Casino Paris
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