E.Leclerc installs propane refrigerated ‘click & collect’ lockers in France

Yesterday, EPTA France announced that it has installed 77 ‘click and collect’ refrigerated lockers for the French supermarket giant E.Leclerc in one location in Anglet (near Biarritz) in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (southwestern France). 

‘Click & Collect’ allows supermarket customers to order their shopping online and easily collect it from an external pick-up station – such as a train station, supermarket car park, petrol station, bus stop or airport.  

These 77 refrigerated and frozen food individual pick up lockers, by the Italian manufacturer EPTA which they call EPTABricks, use R290 as the main refrigerant. 

The lockers were installed at one main location that is located adjacent to a Leclerc Express and in front of the main tram line in the centre of Anglet. This will be the central pick up place for online food bought by E.Leclerc’s customers.  

The goal, for E.Leclerc according to EPTA in a press release,  was to retain customers who have busy lives and prefer to do their shopping online. “These [lockers] can be used to retrieve, even outside the store opening hours, 24/7, purchases of fresh, frozen and dry products ordered online during the day,” it states. 

E.Leclerc is a significant player in the French market with 569+ locations in France and 114+ stores outside of the country.

Click & Collect innovations are a growing trend in the food retail market as consumers increasingly switch to shopping online. At last year's EuroShop, Viessmann and Hauser both launched refrigerated lockers, using hydrocarbons, to pick up online shopping.