Carrefour introduces a robot in Mall of the Emirates

French grocery concept Carrefour – owned and operated by Majid Al Futtaim in the region – has a new staff called Tally in its Mall of the Emirates outlet. Weighing up to 14kg and reaching a height of 163cm, Tally is the first robot to be employed by a retailer in the Middle East.

Tally’s main function is to scan items on the shelves and report to the back-office highlighting discrepancies in displayed items, allowing the rest of the staff to interact with customers.

“Tally is yet another testament of Majid Al Futtaim’s commitment to innovate and lead the industry through unprecedented initiatives that drive efficiency and customer satisfaction. We have already seen a 30% increase in accuracy when it comes to scanning items on the shelves, and we are very excited for what else is to come,” said Philippe Peguilhan, country manager of Carrefour UAE at Majid Al Futtaim Retail.

Tally scans the shelves three times a day, with each one taking up to three hours, using artificial intelligence to provide real-time insights on missing, misplaced, unmarked and incorrectly priced items, before alerting a dedicated Carrefour team member to fix the issue. The robot is also embedded with cameras and sensors enabling it to avoid obstacles while roaming the store.