Tesco Homeplus in South Korea is opening the world’s first virtual store today in the Seoul subway to help time-pressed commuters shop from the station, using smartphones.
The walls of the Seonreung subway station in downtown Seoul were plastered with photos of over 500 of the most popular products with barcodes, which customers can scan using the Homeplus app on their smartphones. Orders placed by 1pm will be delivered to the shopper’s home that evening.
DW Seol, executive vice president of corporate affairs at Tesco Homeplus, said: “I am extremely proud of the great work the Tesco Homeplus team has done to launch this idea in the Seoul subway.
“We are always looking to make the shopping experience easier and more convenient for our customers and the introduction of the virtual store is a great achievement. This is a real triumph for the Korean retailing industry as it continues to be at the forefront of technological innovation.”
