Dubai: Majid Al Futtaim announced on Wednesday a partnership with Takeoff, a US-based technology company that offers e-grocery automation solutions.
The partnership aims to upgrade Carrefour’s online orders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. It will see several micro-fulfilment centres built by 2021 in select Carrefour stores. The centres will function as automated warehouses, processing online orders made by customers and replacing the manual picking method currently used.
Majid Al Futtaim said that Takeoff’s technology will ensure that robots at the warehouses fulfil each order in less than five minutes for pickup or delivery.
The company, which has the licence to operate Carrefour in the UAE, said it is looking to scale up its e-grocery business, and that the new technology can “significantly improve” customers’ experience — from faster processing time to an increase in capacity to deliver more orders.
“We are facing a massive shift in the e-grocery industry, and the scales have already begun tipping,” said Max Pedro, co-founder and president of Takeoff.
Majid Al Futtaim said the new technology will be able to process over 2,000 orders per day, and will ensure fresher products to customers.
