Dubai retail major Majid Al Futtaim has announced a partnership with Takeoff, a US-based technology company, that will revolutionise Carrefour’s online orders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The partnership will see several micro-fulfilment centres (MFCs) built by 2021, the company said in a statement.
Located at select Carrefour stores, these automated small warehouses will process Carrefour’s online orders to replace the manual picking method currently used.
Customers will be able to place orders through Carrefour online with Takeoff’s automated technology ensuring that robots within the MFCs fulfil the order in less than 5 minutes for pick-up or delivery.
Hani Weiss, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim - Retail said: “We are pleased to announce this partnership with Takeoff which will bring another state-of-the-art technology in the retail sector to the region. Takeoff has a strong existing client list and brings a reliable tech solution that can significantly improve our customers’ experience – from faster order processing to an increase in capacity to deliver more online orders.
“Once in place, Majid Al Futtaim will be the first grocery retailer to use this technology in the Middle East as we look to scale up our e-grocery business and ultimately offer the best service and deliver the best value products to our customers,” he added.
Max Pedro, co-founder and president of Takeoff, said: “We are facing a massive shift in the e-grocery industry, and the scales have already begun tipping. We are thrilled to be at the forefront with Majid Al Futtaim, one of the leading global supermarket chains."
The technology enables increased availability of order process and delivery slot capacity - with over 2,000 orders per day that can be placed from a space of 1,500 sq m.