Chinese supply chain technology provider JD.com has opened two robotic shops in the Netherlands, under the new brand name “Ochama”.
The new model is designed to introduce a shopping format which merges an online ordering and pick-up shop, in which robots prepare the parcels, with home delivery services.
Based in Leiden and Rotterdam, the first two Ochama pick-up shops will be followed by two more in Amsterdam and Utrecht.
It is the first time that JD.com has opened a physical retail store in Europe. Ochama, which combines “omni-channel” and “amazing”, also marks the first omni-channel retailer in the Netherlands that offers both food and non-food products in one shopping app.
“With rich experience in retail and cutting-edge logistics technologies that the company has accumulated over the years, we aspire to create an unprecedented shopping format for customers in Europe with better price and service,” said Pass Lei, general manager of Ochama, JD Worldwide.
Shoppers can order products online through Ochama’s app, which features fresh and packaged food, household appliances, beauty, maternal and child products, fashion, home furnishings and more.
The shoppers can then witness a fleet of robots, including automated ground vehicles and robotic arms, engage in picking, sorting, and transferring the merchandise when they visit the pick-up shop.
Scanning the app’s QR code at the check-out enables shoppers to watch as their orders are carried to them by the conveyer belt, as part of a cashier-less shopping trip.
Ochama’s chief operation officer Mark den Butter noted that by fully tapping the technologies in logistics and supply chain management, the shops can bring down the product price by an extra 10% at the benefit of the customers.
