This is the first Crossroad of the world where customers can pay with their face. In “Crossroads,” and “Market” (in French in the text), Tencent, the giant chinese Web, and a partner distributor in China since February, is experimenting with its payment system by facial recognition, which could eventually replace the mobile payment.
With a design that rejuvenated a selection of top of the range products, and the integration of digital tools maximum, “The Market” Carrefour, which officially opens in Shanghai Sunday, may 20, marks the entry of the French brand in the era of distribution connected. It is also the first example of the collaboration with Tencent, the creator of:, social network to one billion users, a partner of Carrefour since February.
The” experience “, more than the products
There was an emergency : since more than two years, multiple innovations in the distribution sector in China had given it a big old stores of the French retailer. The choice of the “Market” recall some of the biases of the leader of the genre : Hema, the store’s ultra-connected to Alibaba.
The leader of the online business, the battle with Tencent to dominate the chinese Web, has launched these supermarkets of a new type three years ago, to make an example of the integration of the physical and the digital. As at Hema, “The Market” offers both a supermarket, a delivery service nearby and there is a dining area where you can cook fresh products from the shelves.
A way to showcase products but also to further develop the experience, as seen increasingly as the key to attract customers in the stores. “The trade of the street, Tianshan is the result of a reflection that began two years ago approximately. In a country where we can do everything with his smartphone, what is the role of the store ? It should become a place of life, where we…
