Every day, Anicet Mbida makes us discover an innovation that could well change the way we consume.
This Monday, he is interested in these autonomous mini-markets in containers.
No cash desk, no staff, accessible 24 hours a day.
They are installed in rural areas to relocate local shops.
There has been a lot of talk about Amazon's cashless stores in the United States, a similar concept has just landed in France and is meant to be very different.
It is true that this model has created a lot of controversy.
First on the employment of cashiers.
Then on Sunday work with these supermarkets open 24 hours a day thanks to security guards and self-service checkouts.
Here, the basic idea remains the same: totally autonomous mini markets, without checkouts and without any employee (except for the restocking of products).
But the goal is rather to use technology to install local shops in places where it would not be profitable at all today: small towns, industrial zones or in the countryside.
What do these stand-alone mini-markets look like?
It's quite small, everything fits in a container (the same ones you find on cargo ships).
We put it down with a crane.
You just need a power outlet for it to work.
Then the customer has to use an app on their cell phone to open the door.
Once inside, he can choose what he wants.
Cameras and sensors will detect what was actually taken and what was rested.
And when leaving, it is billed automatically through the app.
It is a new brand called Boxy and a French technology from the startup Storelink.
Do they already have stores?
The first two have just been installed in the industrial zone of Rungis and at the port of Gennevilliers.
So areas where there are people, but where we would have no interest in opening a traditional mini-market.
Next step: the countryside and small towns.
This will avoid having to drive miles in the car just for a packet of flour or laundry.