In November 2021, the launch of a new store concept, the autonomous OKay Direct store, which is open around the clock, took place.
At the time, Gert Somers, responsible for OKay’s urban strategies at Colruyt Group, explained the motivation for this offering: “A great added value for customers is that they can do their shopping 24/7 in their neighborhood. With this, we especially want to appeal to target groups that would benefit from a store with longer opening hours. I am thinking of students, people with irregular or late working hours such as care workers, emergency services, etc.“ The opportunity to shop in a self-determined way is made possible by the latest technologies, which come from the company’s own technology start-up Smart Technics.
Intelligent camera surveillance and sensors on the shelves enable smooth shopping. Shoppers check in via QR code scan with the Colruyt Xtra app or a loyalty card when entering the store and can also open the (refrigerated) shelves and remove their products in this way. The system recognizes the products taken out and creates an invoice, the QR code is again used for checkout, and electronic payment is made at the self-service checkout.
At the beginning of 2023, Colruyt Group reported the opening of the second OKay Direct store in Lennik. Unlike the 150-square-meter store in Ghent, this is a container with just over 20 square meters. That, explains Christophe Dehandschutter, managing director of OKay, is one of the strengths of the technology: it is scalable, you can use it flexibly in large, small or completely different formats and contexts. Somers adds: “With this innovative pilot project, we will evaluate the feasibility, popularity and success of such a retail formula in a city environment. We believe that interest in such concepts is growing and that it meets the evolving needs of customers. We will test the concept extensively before rolling it out on a larger scale to other major cities.”