Chronodrive x Volubile: How conversational AI is reinventing customer relationships

During the show RetailGO 2025, an unmissable event for innovation in retail, Volubile was honored to be invited alongside Chronodrive, a pioneer in food drive in France. This event brought together major players in the sector to discuss the trends that are shaping the future of commerce: digitalization, automation, personalization and, of course, conversational artificial intelligence.

On this occasion, Céline Flipo, commercial projects and innovations manager at Chronodrive, shared an inspiring feedback on the implementation ofOcéane, their intelligent voice agent designed with Volubile. A collaboration that perfectly illustrates how conversational AI can boost customer satisfaction while freeing up operational teams.

Why is this topic so strategic today? Because customer relationships have become a key differentiator in an ultra-competitive market. Consumers expect quick, accurate, and personalized answers without compromising human quality. Retailers must therefore find a subtle balance between technological efficiency and relational proximity. This is exactly the challenge taken up by Chronodrive and Volubile.

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Chronodrive: pioneer and visionary

Chronodrive, a subsidiary of the Auchan group, is recognized as the Precursor of food drive in France. Since its creation in 2004, the brand has revolutionized consumer habits by offering a simple model: order online and pick up groceries in a few minutes, without leaving your car. A promise that attracts millions of customers every year.

But beyond practicality, Chronodrive has always distinguished itself by its Obsession with customer satisfaction. The sign displays a Outstanding NPS (Net Promoter Score) of 82, a figure that testifies to very strong trust and remarkable loyalty. This performance is based on a corporate culture oriented towards operational excellence and proximity.

Céline Flipo, commercial projects and innovations manager, embodies this vision. Her role? Support strategic transformation projects to strengthen the customer experience and optimize internal processes.

“My role is to support commercial and innovation projects to strengthen our customer experience and our operational efficiency.”

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The challenges before Volubile

Despite this level of satisfaction, Chronodrive was no exception to a reality common to many retailers: incoming call management. An internal audit revealed a major challenge:

“40% of incoming contacts go through telephony, managed directly by each store.”

In concrete terms, this meant that store teams had to absorb a large volume of repetitive and low-complexity questions: holiday schedules, spontaneous applications, requests to change slots... These calls, although legitimate, mobilized valuable resources. In some stores, employees prepared orders while answering the telephone, increasing the risk of errors and the pressure on the quality of service.

The consequences?

• Increased mental load for the teams,
• Risk of operational errors,
• Customer experience sometimes degraded during periods of high traffic.

The challenge was clear: free up store teams, maintaining operational excellence and maintaining human customer relationships.

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Why conversational AI?

Faced with these challenges, Chronodrive explored several options. But a conviction emerged: the solution had to be technological AND human. There is no question of sacrificing relational quality in favor of automation. As Céline recalls:

“We wanted a solution that was simple, fluid and non-dehumanizing. Some tested technologies were ruled out immediately, in particular due to overly mechanical speech recognition.”

Volubile's conversational AI proved to be the ideal answer. Why? Because it allows:

• 24/7 availability,
• Automated management of simple requests,
• A natural vocal experience, far from impersonal robots.

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The encounter with Volubile

Volubile is a company specialized in vocal conversational AI, with a unique approach: combining business and technology to create solutions that are truly useful and accepted by customers. As Alexandre Lemarchand, VP Sales at Volubile, points out:

“Our approach is based on three essential components: efficient voice recognition, an LLM capable of interpreting the request and finding the right answer in information systems, and natural sound reproduction, in line with the identity of the brand.”

“AI doesn't replace teams, it relieves them of repetitive tasks so they can focus on valuable interactions.”

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Océane: the birth of a virtual collaborator

From this collaboration was born Océane, the first “virtual chronodriver”. Océane is not just a voice agent. She was incarnated as a true collaborator, with a defined personality: authorized vocabulary, positive, smiling, dynamic tone. Her voice has become an element of brand consistency, used both in customer relationships and on social networks.

Creating Océane required a intensive training work. Chronodrive and Volubile collaborated closely to improve its understanding and enrich its capabilities.

“Océane is not an anonymous robot, but a virtual person designed to offer a natural and reliable service.”

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Observed benefits

The first pilot stores saw significant results:

• Reduced call load,
• Improving the quality of order preparation,
• Maintaining an enhanced customer relationship, never replaced.

Océane answers simple questions. If the request is more complex, it automatically transfers the call to an employee. This AI+human hybridization guarantees a smooth and reassuring experience.

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A vision for tomorrow

Chronodrive adopts an approach Test & learn to deploy the solution on a large scale. The future is based on three axes:

• Develop new conversational scenarios,
• Establish centralized governance of customer relationships,
• Connect AI to internal tools to further automate.

The ambition also includes text management (emails, service forms) and the creation of a unified knowledge base, essential to guarantee a single voice with customers.

“The objective is clear: to strengthen our operational excellence while maintaining proximity to our customers.”

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Conclusion

Chronodrive and Volubile share a common vision: an enhanced, unified, but never dehumanized customer relationship. This collaboration illustrates how conversational AI can transform operations without sacrificing human quality. An innovation that paves the way for retail that is more agile, more efficient and always focused on the customer.