Grocer to open world's first NFC supermarket

Casino Group, one of France's largest supermarket chains, has announced plans to open the world's first NFC-enabled supermarket.

According to NFC World, this fall, shoppers at the Les Belles Feuilles branch in Paris's upmarket 16th district will be able to use an NFC phone and the supermarket's app to scan shelf-edge labels containing NFC tags to get details about any of the items on offer, including lists of ingredients, information on the supplier, videos, pricing and more.

Shoppers can also scan items placed into their basket into a virtual shopping cart within the mCasino NFC app, and personalize the app to reflect their preferences, and store their loyalty card and promotional offers.

The article also said that consumers will be able to view the contents of their virtual shopping basket as they shop, to check the total they have spent and add or delete a product.

To check out, consumers only need to tap their phone to an NFC reader attached to the store's cash register.When the store launched, shoppers paid by card or cash, but mobile payments will be added before the end of 2012, said the article.

In October, in Lyon, France, Casino opened "poster stores" at out-of-home advertising locations such as metro stations and bus shelters where shoppers were able to scan the items shown into their Casino shopping basket via NFC tags, QR codes and bar codes and then check out via the same m-commerce engine used in the Paris store, reported NFC World.

Consumers had the choice of collecting their shopping from a local store or have it delivered to their home address.

Casino will also introduce the "Casino Digital Wall" later in 2012, a digital version of a poster store that includes a touchscreen display.

The article reported that shoppers will be able to touch the wall to select products, discover more information about them and add them to a virtual basket. When they choose to check out, a QR code is displayed on the wall that is read with  ttheir mobile phone.

Check out this video filmed at Casino's head office store that shows how mCasino NFC will work for consumers shopping at the larger Paris store:

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