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French retailer parodies Amazon Go

Written by Tom Ryan

Source: "Introducing Monoprix Livraison à domicile +"

A French retailer, Monoprix, has become the first to parody Amazon Go in a campaign promoting its one-hour home delivery service. The campaign, posted on YouTube, offers nearly a frame-by-frame copy of Amazon’s “Amazon Go” introduction video. The first Amazon Go opened in downtown Seattle in early December. Matching Amazon’s video by first showing a young, bearded man with a baseball cap shopping, Monoprix’s voiceover begins, “Over ten years ago, we were wondering what would shopping look like if you could walk into a store, grab what you want and just go.” Amazon’s voiceover starts, “Four years ago we started to wonder what would shopping look like if you could walk into a store, grab what you want and just go.” Both executions eventually make the promise of “no lines, no checkouts, no registers.” Monoprix’s storyline veers from Amazon’s when it says shoppers also “don’t need an app to go shopping. So put away your phone and go shop. It’s really that simple.” Instead of hearing about how Amazon Go’s “just walk technology” is driven by advanced computing, algorithms and sensors, Monoprix said it came up with its system by learning “about our customers' needs and combined those learnings with Monoprix DNA. We call it human technology.” The commercial adds, “Once you get everything you want, just go. We’ll put your groceries through the checkout and deliver them to your door only one hour later.” In addition to no lines and no checkout, one-hour post-delivery promises “no groceries to carry” at no additional charge. Referencing Amazon, the ad concludes the service is available, “At a Monoprix near you (Seattle’s a bit far away.)” Many reviewers saw Monoprix’s commercial as a subtle knock against the loss of human interaction in the shopping process, all done while touting the value of the chain's delivery service. Some other critiques of Amazon Go have also addressed the human interaction theme. In the New Yorker last week, David Sax, author of “Save the Deli,” wrote, “Stores are the fabric of our streets and neighborhoods, and the people who work behind those windows ... are what often give us a sense of place.”

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