Auchan has introduced a Drive service to its Simply Market format, allowing online orders to be loaded into shoppers' cars in five minutes flat.
While the France-based retailer has offered a 'walk-in Drive' service at 37 stores in the Ile de France region since 2009, allowing customers to collect orders made online, the new format will see the retailer pack customers' online orders directly into their cars.
Auchan calls the new formula 'store picking' in that products are taken directly from the shelves and deposited in shoppers' cars in a dedicated car park. The Simply Market website has been redesigned in conjunction with the launch and has a product offering of some 9,000 SKUs.
Stores in Noyelles les Vermelles and Meulan Tessancourt were the first to offer the Drive service on Monday (15 April).
Auchan said it is to test the Drive model of the Simply Market format at the end of 2013 in the Paris region. (18 April)
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Sadhbh Connor
