Colruyt introduces innovative Smart Cart in two additional stores

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Colruyt is the first and only retailer in Belgium where customers can shop using a self-scanning shopping cart. The innovative Smart Cart allows customers to shop even more efficiently, keep their budget under control and pass through checkout smoothly. After a successful first launch in Halle, customers in Kessel-Lo will also be able to use the Smart Cart from today. The Waterloo store will follow from next month. With this expansion, Colruyt Group continues to invest in innovation on the shop floor and in the store of the future.

Investing in Innovation

Colruyt Group is strongly committed to innovation and the digitalisation of its stores. In doing so, the retailer is evolving towards a phygital store concept, where the physical store and digital tools reinforce one other to serve tomorrow's customer.

In March 2024, Colruyt Group tested the self-developed Smart Cart for the first time. Employees were invited to test that cart extensively in the Halle store. The aim was to determine whether customers could shop even more efficiently and to continue building the store of the future. The test proved highly successful, and by September 2025 the Smart Cart was ready for a customer launch. Following that successful rollout, the Smart Cart will now be introduced in two additional stores. Geert Elen, Head of Innovation at Colruyt Group: "We listened to our customers and developed our Smart Cart to suit their needs. Being able to do the weekly shop efficiently, keep control over their budget and save time are key priorities for our customers. ​ Market research now confirms that these are exactly the main advantages customers associate with the Smart Cart. ​ And of course, many customers simply enjoy using the technology."

Loyal Users

The use of the Smart Cart is fully in line with Colruyt's ambition at this stage of the project. With the number of trolleys currently available, the Smart Cart already accounts for 10% of all shopping trips in Halle.

Geert Elen: "What's more, a smart cart has a loyal user base. Looking at weekly usage, we see that 8 out of 10 customers have used the cart before and are now familiar with it. At peak moments, such as Fridays and Saturdays, we see that customers even wait specifically to use a Smart Cart. We therefore look forward to making more Smart Carts available for our customers in the future and further increasing usage."

The expansion to two additional stores will allow Colruyt Group to observe how a broader customer base responds to the smart shopping cart and to determine the optimal number of trolleys/carts per store. After all, the retailer does not intend to replace all trolleys with smart carts. "We know that not all customers will use the Smart Cart for their shopping, and that is not our goal. We remain convinced of our current, unique checkout system, which offers advantages in terms of service and customer interaction. That is why we are also investing in the full rollout of our innovative Easy Check-out across all 273 Colruyt stores," says Geert Elen.

Collaboration

The development of the Smart Cart was carried out by Colruyt Group Technics, Colruyt Group’s innovation team, in collaboration with EXPRESSO. This project was realised with the valued support of VLAIO and with assistance from Superellipse.

Innovation partner Superellipse made a significant contribution to the design of the hardware and the user interface of the Smart Cart. During this process, customers’ shopping habits were taken into account in order to design a shopping cart that supports larger, weekly grocery trips as much as possible. The result is a unique Smart Cart that perfectly matches the needs of Colruyt’s customers, with a user interface that seamlessly integrates with the Xtra app.

Geert Elen: "This joint development marks a decisive step towards the future of shopping: the innovative 'Smart Cart' combines Colruyt Group's leading expertise in computer vision with EXPRESSO's leading position in the development and production of advanced mechatronic systems featuring patented weighing technology. The result is a shopping trolley/cart that offers customers a seamless, intuitive and efficient experience – a true gamechanger in retail.

Earlier this year, Colruyt won the prestigious EHI Retail Technology Award (RETA) in the category 'Checkout smartstore' with the Smart Cart.