Carrefour opens its first stand-alone drive format in Belgium

Today, French retailer Carrefour opened its very first stand-alone drive format in Belgium. Over th…

Today, French retailer Carrefour opened its very first stand-alone drive format in Belgium.

Over the past couple of years, Carrefour has been working on establishing new drive formats in different locations around Belgium, a country in which it now has a total of 8 'Drive Points', augmenting existing supermarkets.

However, the newest location in the region of Waterloo is the first which isn't connected to a Carrefour supermarket or hypermarket store. Instead, the layout of this new model contains just a collection point, which looks quite similar to pumps at a petrol station, and some small warehouses.

Claiming to be "the fastest pick-up point in Europe," Waterloo's Drive promises that it will be able to have online orders ready for collection within 90 minutes of a customer's request. Because typical supermarket store tasks aren't an issue for workers, the new format only needs six staff to operate.

"The customer does not pay when he confirms his online order, but only just before he leaves the pick-up point and when he is fully satisfied with all the items he bought," Carrefour e-commerce director Arnauld Lesne told Retail Detail.

In Belgium, the Delhaize Group's Wink retail chain is the only competitor which offers a similar service.