The brand now relies on artificial intelligence to limit food waste of fresh products.
In 2020, E.Leclerc was the first Reunion brand to commit to the zero waste approach with the E.Lerclerc Réunion Movement : by grouping together fresh products approaching their expiration date in dedicated locations to offer them at reduced prices.. E.Leclerc Réunion is now moving up a gear and digitalizing its processes. The brand has just entered into a collaboration with the company Smartway, whose solutions based on artificial intelligence can guide in-store teams to detect products approaching their expiry date and decide on the best way to revalue them. : labeling with price reduction or donations to charitable associations.
An 80% reduction in food waste
Detect products approaching their expiration date, decide the best way to promote them, apply the correct reduction rate, print stored labels… These steps are carried out manually by in-store teams. Time-consuming operations that can be sources of errors. Since the beginning of November, the 18 E.Leclerc stores in Reunion have adopted solutions based on artificial intelligence from Smartway. Inventor of zero waste shelves, Smartway created the Food Waste Management System (FWMS), a suite of digital tools brought together on a platform equipped with artificial intelligence. The partnership brings, depending on the stores, on the three intelligent tools designed by Smartway : Smartdetection to spot short dates, Smartdecision which prescribes the most profitable revaluation channel for each product (donation or delivery) and Smartdiscount to apply the right discounts and automatically print labels. At stake, an expected 80% reduction in food waste.
