Carrefour opens ‘smart store’ in Shanghai

Carrefour China has opened its first-ever ‘smart supermarket’ in Shanghai in partnership with Tencent, four months after the parent company of the WeChat app bought a stake in the French retailer.

Covering 4000sqm over two levels in Changning district, the new Le Marche store is connected to the Beixinjing metro station. It offers more than 25,000 product types, mostly food, and customers can pay with their WeChat accounts by scanning a QR code and using facial-recognition technology.

A feature of the supermarket is on-screen entertainment, including reality TV show Produce 101, owned by Tencent’s video arm.