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This week the news was highlighted that the Carrefour is opening stores without attendants in São Paulo. Even though the format of stores without attendants be nothing new, A major player's bet on this format indicates the start of a wave.

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Full of innovations that combine in-app purchases with the physical store, QR Codes and image recognition, the store solves a much more traditional Carrefour problem, its location strategy focused on convenience.

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Observe the location pattern of Carrefour Express stores compared to Minuto Sugarloaf stores:

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Carrefour Express

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Minuto Sugarloaf

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It is clear that the Carrefour Express network is more concentrated in commercial corridors and central areas. In a classic strategy of domination by the center, which seeks to attract consumers before going home.

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However, the changes caused by the pandemic, with restrictions on commercial activities and many people in the home office, directly affected these regions and, consequently, the convenience strategy adopted by Carrefour.

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The solution to this strategic dilemma goes beyond the discourse of digital transformation, since unattended stores allow Carrefour to correct its location strategy and still do so at a lower cost than it would be to enter Dispute over commercial outlets in neighborhoods.

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This occurs because the criteria for the location of unserviced stores follow new premises, such as operating within condominiums, parking lots and other spaces integrated with other activities, in formats of 15 to 45 square meters.

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Follow-ups of this strategy may also involve integration with delivery apps, making small stores without attendants also work as darkstores, depending less on prime locations and increasing the format's spraying power.

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Most of the news highlighted the technological apparatus that supports the operation, but at the end of the day we see that the innovation came to solve the very traditional problem, as stated by the network's Director of Proximity:

‍The idea is that this will help boost the “local market” model, the current name for “neighborhood markets”.

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The store is futuristic, but retailers continue to follow the mantra “location, location, location”.

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Article written in conjunction with Daniele Kono, Geographer and Geomarketing Professor at ESPM MBAs, who first observed this pattern.

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