At a glance
Lagardère Travel Retail launched an automated duty-free store at Brussels Airport as a proof of concept through 2023.
Outcomes
- Seamless entrance-to-exit experience activated by boarding card.
- Fully supported automation and on-demand customer assistance.
- No app installation required.
“Passengers of Terminal A will be astonished by the easy way of working and the brand-new retail experience. By offering this new automated point of sales at the airport, Lagardère Travel Retail ensures its role as a trendsetter.”
Nicolas Van Brandt
CEO Lagardère Travel Retail Belgium
Lagardère Travel Retail is a global leader in the travel retail industry. It operates over 4,800 stores in 260 airports, 710 railway stations and other concessions in 42 countries worldwide. Its stores provide travel essentials, duty free, fashion and food service. Since opening its first bookstore at Paris Gare de Lyon in 1852, the company has been dedicated to delivering new experiences for travelers every day.
Two trailblazers, one vision
An innovator in its market, Lagardère Travel Retail Belgium wanted to test an automated store concept as a means to operate in new ways and offer its customers new experiences. Already delivering leading autonomous store solutions for global retail organizations, Atos’s mission was to further advance its autonomous store capabilities.
In early 2022, the two companies partnered to progress and adapt a market-driven automated shopping solution with speed and agility. Their strategy was to create and launch a live, airside proof-of-concept (POC) duty-free store at Brussels Airport by the end of 2022.
To do this, the team needed to rapidly develop and implement a robust and scalable automated store infrastructure and digital platform. With this in place, the POC could then be used to explore business opportunities and applications while improving real-life customer experiences.
This groundbreaking collaboration combines Lagardère Travel Retail Belgium’s extensive business expertise with Atos’s digital retail, technological and systems integration capabilities.
Leveraging data in real time
They created a digital platform that deploys Atos BullSequana Edge servers, AI capabilities and analytics to drive the customer experience and operate the store. The platform’s design is modular so that it can scale and flex with Lagardère Travel Retail’s business.
The store’s infrastructure is designed for maximum efficiency, accuracy and speed. For real-time monitoring and management, 3D infrared light detection and ranging (LIDAR) cameras scan movements and store data points. Weighted shelves enable precision monitoring of products.
Fast, frictionless experience
1. Enter the store and shop:
Customers enter by scanning their boarding pass. Selected products are automatically added to their virtual basket.
2. Check out:
Duty is applied automatically depending on customer destination, EU or elsewhere. Payment is made by debit or credit card.
3. Carry on:
Customers leave the store freely with their favorite purchased products.
Remote store assistants are available if shoppers need help for any reason.
Consumer privacy is safe. LIDAR cameras are not human-interpretable, and no biometric data is collected.
Proving concepts, creating possibilities
The POC will operate throughout 2023, enabling Lagardère Travel Retail and Atos to evaluate shopper and stakeholder responses and the business processes required to operate the store.
Shoppers can make their purchases faster and potentially during extended store hours. The benefits for Lagardère Travel Retail include:
- Automated real-time out-of-shelf detection for maximum efficiency and customer satisfaction.
- Insights into customers, store and asset performance for strategic and operational improvements.
- Insights into usage of the store and products, including opportunities for energy efficiency.
Atos’s Autonomous Store solution is an ecosystem designed to support multiple partners, vendors and technologies. It can be developed and evolved, for example, to deliver discrete components or to engage with more products, processes and customers – all delivered as a service. In addition, it has capabilities for integrating technologies such as image recognition and computer vision as the digital transformation of retail continues.
Future potential
The POC will also allow Lagardère Travel Retail to explore potentially extending its footprint, expanding deployment, and enhancing its use of data and technology. All to enhance operational excellence and customer experience.
“Any business looking to launch an autonomous store needs robust, scalable and secure technology that delivers a trusted and satisfying customer service. We value the opportunity to work with Lagardère Travel Retail Belgium as a leader and innovator to advance the exciting possibilities of digital retail in airport environments,” said Punit Sehgal, CEO Atos Belgium and Luxembourg.”
Why Atos
Atos empowers retailers to enhance shopping experiences in the digital world. Whether you are transforming specific parts of your operation or implementing a fully automated store, we can help. Our Autonomous Store solution creates new retail channels with automated points of sale that leverage innovative technologies to reduce your operating costs while improving your customers’ loyalty and experience.
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