Demi brought up an interesting fact that Tesco Homeplus in South Korea opened the world’s first virtual store in the subway, customers can do online grocery shopping using their smartphones.
With a company core objective of “creating value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty”, the idea that Tesco set up a virtual store in the subway in South Korea is innovating. Tesco considers the segments geographically and behaviorally.
- Lifestyle: South Korean fast-pace style. As Demi mentioned, South Korea is the second most hardworking country in the world, many Koreans with long-working hours desire for a convenience and quick way to do their grocery shopping.
- Technology: increasing mobile popularity. Cellphone service providers reported that the number of smartphone subscribers had passed 10 million in South Korea, up from just a few hundred thousand in October 2009. With the widely use of smart phone, the grocery shoppers could scan the QR codes easily using the Homeplus App.
- Culture: acceptance of technology. As Kwon Ki-Duk, at the Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul, pointed out “Koreans are really interested in converging and cramming many different functions into a single gadget, and mixing technologies, in order to find novel ways to complete ordinary tasks.” A virtual store fits the Korean culture that Koreans are accepting of the technology usage.
Based on the research results, Tesco targets the busy South Korean working class as their market. Tesco’s virtual store meets Korean customer’s needs by providing online grocery shopping to optimize their time of waiting for the subway and delivering customer’s goods efficiently.