Philips Develop A In Store Geolocalisation Technology For Carrefour

Philips has released recently a test of a new technology to geolocate customers in store. In Carrefour Euralille, a new system based on the lights of the store allow customers to locate themselves on their smart phone. You will see below a video showing how the system works. Now I clearly understand the reason why a company like Philips try to push this cutting edge technology in the retail world. I also understand why Carrefour is experimenting new technologies to improve shopping experience and thus the CRM.

But I am quite doubting about the real usage of the technology. Obviously, I believe in Ibeacons and I think the technology has more potential in terms of large usage. But also, I would like to question the use of those technologies in terms of store efficiency. A technology should not be developped because we need technology, but technology should rather complete a need. And so far, I don't see clearly how and why customers would use such a localisation system in store, even if it is very accurate. Nevertheless, I appreciate the fact that an industry leader like Carrefour is able to test and innovate in order to improve customer and shopping experience.