![Featured image of the article [case study] With Smartway’s AI, Auchan Retail targets a food breakage rate of 0.75%](https://www.mind.eu.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/09/Smartway-Auchan-Retail-RSe-978x652.jpg)
The context
Since 2020, Auchan Retail (turnover of €32.3 billion in 2023, including 51% in France, Ebitda of €1 billion) has been reducing food waste in partnership with Smartway. The service supplies technology to diminish food waste, digitalised and driven by AI. After a pilot in Romania in 2020, Smartway technology has been implemented at 349 Auchan supermarkets in France between January and June 2022. The programme was extended to 10 countries in June 2023.
“Supermarkets lose between 2% and 3% of turnover due to food waste. This is the equivalent of their net margin. For a retailer, it is very important to activate all levers to protect a margin”, said to mind Retail Christophe Menez, Co-Founder of Smartway. “In the food retail sector, pricing policy is a key competitiveness factor. As a retailer, your market share is closely linked to price positioning. So every product saved from waste means extra margin, and therefore lower prices“.
