Carrefour Le Marche launches

Source: Xinhua | 2018-05-21

FRENCH retailer Carrefour yesterday launched its innovative Carrefour Le Marche in Shanghai as it extended its partnership with Tencent Group.

The smart shop, the first of its kind for Carrefour, features smart technology such as self-payment through the WeChat app, artificial intelligence for facial recognition to guarantee payment security, and self-checkout machine.

Le Marche means “market” in French.

Although it is half the size of regular Carrefour supermarkets at only 4,000 square meters, the Le Marche store offers a wider range of popular products, especially imported food.

“Le Marche is an innovation as China has become a laboratory to try out a new format of retailing,” said Carrefour China President and CEO Thierry Garnier.

Garnier said two Carrefour Le Marche outlets will be opened in Shenzhen, where Tencent is headquartered, in the next several months.