Virtual Supermarket Allows South Koreans To Shop In Subways With Their Phones

Mega supermarket chain Tesco has designed a virtual supermarket in South Korea in hopes to gain more business than its competitor E-Mart. According to the video below, Koreans are the second-most hardworking people in the world and for them, grocery shopping once a week is a dreaded task.

So, Tesco Homeplus created a virtual store in Seoul subway stations in which the displays and merchandise are exactly the same as the stores. Customers scan the desired product with their smartphone and it then appears in their online cart. The products will be delivered to their door "right after you get home."

To see how this store-of-the-future works, watch the video below.

[Via Foodbeast]

Comments

[Dress My Cupcake]

11:10 AM on 06/29/2011

What's next? A cupcake vending machine? :) -- Ashley, http://www.dressmycupcake.com

[Teresa Eckerman-Pfeil]

03:22 AM on 06/29/2011

Hard to pick the most fragment, delicious melon or tomato this way.

[Marcus James Hunsinger]

05:54 PM on 06/27/2011

Will see this in NYC pretty soon!

[paraprajnameta1]

05:37 PM on 06/27/2011

I think I'm one of the few people left in the world who prefers to buy everything in person. I need to touch and inspect the merchandise first. I had groceries ordered and delivered by phone years ago. The end result was Wrong Wrong Wrong more times than not. Once, a broccoli bunch I'd ordered had a fistful of dirt buried deep in the stalks. The insects occupying the dirt were not amused when I tried to dislodge them from their tasty habitat. I swore I'd do all the shopping myself from then on.

[Yolanda Gutierrez]

05:31 PM on 06/27/2011

One of the best things living in Los Angeles over 20 years ago was a traveling store. A guy had converted a bus into a grocery store and would drive around the neighborhood. That bus had everything! Fresh fruit and veg. area, cold case with milk, eggs, cheese, freezer case with ice cream and frozen meats like hamburger. Diapers, cleaning products , candy and snacks. Being a stay at home mom with a newborn, that guy was a lifesaver. I didn't have to pack up baby, supplies, carseat etc. Just walk with baby a half block down. All the stay at home moms loved him!

[isaluna]

08:16 PM on 06/27/2011

I wonder why it stopped...when I was a kid the baker truck would come around with fresh bread, cake and cookies...he might have sold other stuff, as a kid I only remember the sweets.
What a great idea for a business for these times...a locally grown fresh produce and homemade goods in an old school bus etc...

[Mary OGarbiadd]

04:23 PM on 06/27/2011

How cool is that. I am sure that soon someone will start selling some basics..eggs, milk, cereal, onions..in vending machines. mg

[Karl Wilder]

04:02 PM on 06/27/2011

I like to pick out my food. This would have no appeal to me.

[Auld]

06:05 PM on 06/27/2011

Working moms will love it. Nothing is worse than having to grocery shopping after work then go home and make a meal. This will be great for those times when you just need to cook and there is nothing in the cupboards. Very clever idea!

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

02:29 PM on 06/27/2011

I love shopping for food, i often don't know what's for dinner until i walk into a store and see something on sale or something crazy ripe and good. peaches are smelling good right now...

[ButterFlyGirlFly]

02:16 PM on 06/27/2011

I do both online and via blackberry now in the USA. No need to go inside a grocery store can be delivered to my car outside of store or delivered to my home.

[meeks]

01:33 PM on 06/27/2011

I can't see the video. But I would love this service