Virtual grocery shopping: In South Korea, Tesco introduces a smartphone supermarket

Tesco is evolving to cater to South Korea’s unique market. The company did more than just rebrand itself as Homeplus. It took grocery shopping and made it commuter-convenient — and virtual. All you need is a smartphone.

Watch the virtual store case study below:


Understanding that the competition, E-Mart, had more stores and that Koreans work long hours and dread squeezing grocery shopping into their busy schedules, Tesco decided to try something new: What if grocery shopping came to them?

[Realted: Fast food is getting even faster]

Homeplus introduced virtual stores in the subway. While they wait for the train, customers can use their smartphones to shop at these virtual supermarkets.

The subway stations’ glass walls display pictures of products, laid out to mirror the aisles and shelves of a traditional supermarket. Each product has a unique QR code that can be scanned by the customer’s phone.

By the time the train arrives, the shopper will have filled his or her virtual shopping basket. (If the train comes too early, an online store allows shoppers to continue without scanning the wall.)

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After the online purchase is complete, the selected groceries arrive at the shopper’s home shortly after returning home from work.

The strategy makes sense: a country with fewer than 50 million residents, South Korea has more than 10 million smartphone users. Commuters especially have income, little time and phones. So far, they’re on board with Homeplus’ virtual supermarket.

Already Homeplus has seen an increase in online sales by 130 per cent, making it number one in the online market, and now it's a very close second to E-Mart in the offline market as well.

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