Virtual Shopping
South Korea is one of the hardest working country in the world and now people there can shop for groceries at virtual stores while they wait for the subway train. The United Kingdom based grocery chain – Tesco has opened virtual stores in Seoul‘s subway station under the name Homeplus, permitting users to shop using their smart phones while waiting for their trains.
It works like this: customers download the free Homeplus app onto their smart phone. Then they open an account with their home address and method of payment. Once the customer pays for the items, he or she can request a time for their groceries to be delivered right to their doorstep. In these Seoul subway stations, large LED screens advertising everything. Designed to look like a series of supermarket shelves, they display images and prices of a range of all kinds of products – fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, juice, etc. designed to look exactly like a real market. Every item depicted on those virtual shelves has a QR code next to it. If a customer sees an item they want they simply snap a photo of the QR code. And the groceries are delivered to their home. This innovative concept was developed with very busy people in mind or people who loathe the chore of grocery shopping when all they want to do is relax at home. Shanghai and Beijing are now following Seoul, Korea’s footsteps by having a virtual supermarket at their subway stations.
