Augmented Grocery Shopping: How a Korean grocer moved virtual shopping to the subway

It’s the kind of experiment that seems like it was hatched for a satirical spoof video, but the results were anything but funny. Home Plus, the 2nd largest grocery chain in South Korea formerly known as Tesco, needed to increase their market share without building more stores. The idea they had was simple and elegant, albeit completely offbeat and somewhat insane.

“Let the store come to the people.”

They created virtual stores to make grocery shopping something that could be done without while performing other duties such as waiting in the subway. With lighted billboard visualizations of the actual shopping experience, someone waiting for a subway who was armed with a smartphone with a QR Code reading app installed could order the groceries they needed without physically going to the store itself. They find the items they need, buy them through the app, and the groceries are delivered to their home.

As you can see by the video, the results have been extraordinary with over 10,000 people visiting the online Home Plus mall using smartphones. New registered members rose 76% and online sales grew 130%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJVoYsBym88