A year after its launch, Belgian retailer Delhaize has already opened fifty unmanned Shop&Go convenience stores in Belgium. This puts them on track to achieve the ambition of one hundred shops by next year.
The new normal
Last year, Delhaize and Swiss Selecta opened their first unmanned Shop&Go at potato producer Agristo in Wielsbeke (West-Flanders). Meanwhile, the concept has already been rolled out to fifty large and small Belgian companies, from schools over hospitals to public enterprises. The small, unmanned outlets respond perfectly to “the new normal of working”: as employees are less often in the office, operating a traditional company restaurant has become difficult to make profitable. With autonomous shops that can remain open continuously, employees always have access to fresh and varied food.
By 2024, Delhaize and Selecta want to at least double the number of unmanned Shop&Go’s, to a hundred branches. “With the fifty stores we have already opened since the start of the project exactly one year ago, we are perfectly on track to achieve this ambition”, Delhaize CEO Xavier Piesvaux confirms.
