Tesco Homeplus in South Korea has opened the world’s first virtual store on Thursday in the Seoul subway to help time-pressed commuters shop on the go using their smartphones.
The walls of the Seonreung subway station in downtown Seoul came to life on Thursday with virtual displays of over 500 of the most popular products with barcodes which customers can scan using the Homeplus app on their smartphones and get delivered right to their doorstep.
Busy commuters can scan their groceries on their way to work in the morning and, as long as their order is placed before 1pm, their items will be delivered home that same evening.
The virtual store in the Seonreung subway station is trialing for a period of three months to capture response and gauge interest in the initiative.
The Homeplus App, which now allows Homeplus customers to scan and place orders at the virtual store, has already been downloaded by 600,000 people since launching four months ago and July online sales have increased 200 percent compared to April 2011.