Will Virtual Grocery Stores Replace Physical Ones?
Feb 3rd, 2013 by Tiffany Lo
The past generations have never been as fast-paced as we are now. With an increasing need to be “on-the-go” all the time, we are relying more and more on our smartphones to aid us in our busy lives. Grocery shopping has become a laborious, time-wasting chore for many young people…and that is where the idea of “virtual supermarkets” came in.
In South Korea, Tesco Homeplus Supermarket has opened quite a few virtual grocery stores in Seoul’s underground subway stations. There is no physical store; pictures of 500 popular store products are brightly displayed on billboards along the subway platform walls with QR codes underneath each item. Customers with the Tesco application installed to their smartphone can scan the QR code of the product they want to buy, specify details such as bag size, and expect their purchases to be safely delivered to their homes within 24 hours.
This concept is a miracle for young people who dislike spending at least an hour wandering through vast supermarkets. This idea is a relief to adults in the workforce who dread grocery shopping after a long day at work (not to mention South Korea is infamous for overtime hours and tough work culture).
Tesco’s virtual grocery stores are marketed brilliantly. The company satisfies their target market’s need for convenience perfectly and advertises for itself – who could miss these eye-catching billboards while waiting for the next train to arrive? It is not surprising that Homeplus in South Korea has become Tesco’s most successful international business.
When considering the 4P’s, these virtual stores are definitely lacking in the “Product” category. Being able to smell and feel the quality of our purchases gives us comfort of the mind, a state that cannot be provided by 2-dimensional images on digital screens. The market is also limited to customers who own smartphones (the smartphone market is growing, but not entirely penetrated). I think it is unlikely that virtual supermarkets will ever replace physical stores, but there is great potential for expansion to major cities like New York, where “time” is even more scarce for everyone.
References:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15341910
http://www.designboom.com/technology/tesco-virtual-supermarket-in-a-subway-station/