Context and challenges: Intermarché's testimonial on the 3D Commerce solution 

Presentation of the company

Intermarché is a French supermarket chain belonging to the Les Mousquetaires group, founded in 1969. Intermarché is France's second-largest retailer, with 1,887 outlets - that's one store every 17 km! The chain recently acquired a large proportion of Casino outlets. 

Presentation of the interviewee

Franck Vaillant has been a project manager in the innovation department for three and a half years. His project portfolio is quite varied, and in 2023 he mainly worked on initiatives aimed at exploring new modes of consumption and improving the customer experience.

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A number of initiatives have been carried out as part of these projects, including bulk sales, smoother customer journeys and a richer shopping experience.

On this occasion, we used augmented reality in the Bricorama catalog to project swimming pools. These initiatives are managed by the innovation department and run across all our banners. 

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Device description 

Santa's workshop is a virtual showroom accessible via a QR code in the pre-Christmas toy catalog and on the Intermarché website.

Accessible on mobile and tablet PCs, it lets users navigate freely in Santa's workshop, a magical space, and interact with a whole host of characters, discovering animations, stories, tutorials, recipes and games. Thanks to augmented reality, visitors can also view the 40 or so toys selected and arranged in 6 themed rooms, and install them under a real Christmas tree! 

What was your initial problem? 

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"We are facing rapid change in the non-food sector, particularly with competition from pure players such as Amazon and Cdiscount, who have a significant advantage thanks to the wide range available on their marketplaces.

For toys, we know that customers need to see and experience in a playful way, so we were looking to find engaging ways for children to discover these products."

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"At the same time, we also started exploring augmented reality (AR) for the DIY sector, but found that we needed more support in this area." 

What were your objectives with this solution?

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"We have drawn on three significant studies to support our approach:

• The Nielsen study, which reveals that 51% of consumers are willing to use augmented reality to make their purchases. This finding underlines the growing importance of this technology in the customer experience, and reinforces our strategy focused on its integration.
• A survey conducted by La Poste revealed that 66% of consumers consider that experiential marketing has a positive influence on their perception of a brand. These results confirm the effectiveness of initiatives aimed at stimulating brand recognition and image through interactive experiences.
• And finally, Capgemini's research, demonstrating that the use of augmented reality can increase the likelihood of a consumer making an online purchase by 85%. This data underlines the potential of this technology to maximize sales on our Intermarché site, and fully justifies our investment in its integration.

The analysis of these 3 studies and the first experiments carried out in the DIY sector have convinced us". 

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Solution and feedback: Intermarché testifies to its 3D solution 

How did the 3D Commerce solution help you solve your initial problem? 

"The 3D Commerce solution has enabled us to playfully highlight the 6 best-selling segments: board games, plush toys, dolls, early-learning toys, and everything electronic (such as drones, for example). In total, this represents a selection of around 40 references."

What facilities/difficulties did you encounter in setting up?

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"We needed to define our target. We conducted an in-depth study to understand Intermarché customers' toy-buying habits. We decided not to target an individual but a parent-child pair, to better meet the needs and expectations of the family. For the child, the emphasis was on ease of use, while for the parents we focused on safety and perceived usefulness. 

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The second major challenge was to address concerns about children's exposure to screens. To this end, we developed a comprehensive experience to encourage family interaction with tutorials and mini-games, for example."

What are the advantages of this solution?

"The main objective was to develop our visibility around the category. 

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Our goal was achieved, as the experiment was featured in 13 specialist media such as LSA and Linéaires. 

The Santa experiment was also the first innovation project to benefit from a press release. In 6 years, this is a first, and rare enough to mention. "

What benefits did you perceive? What were the spin-offs?  

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"Between October 23 and December 26, the Santa experience recorded around 200 connections per day, totaling around 12,500 connections over this period. These visits generated 20,000 product displays, with an average visit duration of 6 minutes and 30 seconds. This is an excellent score. 

The toys category accounted for around 17% of total site traffic. Assuming that 18% of connections convert into a purchase, with an average basket of €37, this could have generated potential sales of €85,000 on 12,000 visits if we had maintained the market place". 

Collaboration and follow-up: Intermarché testifies to its 3D Commerce solution

Why did you choose Retail VR?

"The choice of Retail VR was obvious for several reasons. Firstly, when benchmarking the various solutions, although other players also offered excellent options, Retail VR presented a unique proposition that framed augmented reality (AR) applications more comprehensively, which was not necessarily the case with competitors. 

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What's more, Retail VR was already well known to Sogec (a partner specializing in promotional activation), having worked together on other projects in the past, which established a relationship of trust. 

Taking into account the aspects of realization, budget, and respect of the planned deadlines we chose Retail VR". 

What next for this project?

"For the future of the project, there is a consensus on the need to renew the experiment this year, despite certain uncertainties linked to the reorganization of Auchan and Casino on the non-food purchasing side. 

The merger of certain activities of the two entities creates budgetary unknowns. 

Ideally, we need to convince our managers to select a range of products for Santa, then maximize promotion of this range at points of sale to encourage orders. 

Finally, the project will be submitted for the LSA Innovation prize, which could increase its visibility and appeal."

About us

Retail VR

Founded in 2018, Retail VR offers a 3D experience platform to accelerate sales and retail processes.

Limited travel, high showroom operating costs, reduced carbon footprints - in this context, it's hard to come up with new concepts, or successfully launch a product or run a promotional campaign.

Thanks to our 2D/3D converter and our suite of micro & macro merchandising software, we can create 3D environments and content very quickly. Our solutions help brand owners and retailers to simulate their points of sale, validate product launches and work on shopper studies. We also help them to digitalize their showrooms and offer immersive, brand-enhancing shopping experiences, thus saving time and money.