The 60m²-large shop can handle over 1,000 customers per day, without having any employees. Customers choose goods themselves or with the help of experts available via videochat, order the goods and pick them up immediately. There will be hundreds of products available at the shop, which initially will be supplied twice a day.
This unique innovation cost CZK 5 million and an internal team of young developers has been working on it for one year. If the project proves meaningful after the end of the pilot, Alza plans to open other such shops in the neighbouring countries where it has branches: Slovakia, Hungary and Austria.
How exactly does it work?
Customers first enter a small room where they choose a product on a built-in computer. If advice or more information is needed, customers can contact a live expert to help them via video terminals. "No other shop in the world offers shoppers 100 experts in one place," said Jan Moudřík, director of expansion and facility at Alza.cz.
Once customers have paid for their selected item (either by card or on-line), a glass door opens automatically to the next room where LED lights on the floor will show them the direction to pick up the goods.
In the room, hundreds of boxes are placed in 40 columns. Different sizes of box are based on the sizes of best-selling products selected according to customer preferences. The customer can pick up the goods in the appropriate lighting column and box. Both small boxes with a phone and big ones with a TV with a diagonal of up to 150 cm are available.
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