Tesco's South Korean virtual supermarket

Wouldn't it be great if you could get your weekly shop done while waiting for the tube to arrive? South Korean commuters certainly thought so when Tesco opened a virtual supermarket, allowing shoppers to browse, scan and pay for goods using their smart phone via a series of pictures plastered to the wall of an underground station.

SHOP WHILE YOU COMMUTE

The campaign of last autumn, designed by the Seoul branch of advertising agency, Cheil, saw Tesco Homeplus display a large, wall-length billboard, designed to look like a series of supermarket shelves. Commuters could shop for common supermarket products by scanning the QR codes with their smart phones. After they had paid, the products were delivered to the user's home on that same day.



SALES INCREASE

So how did the virtual supermarket perform? According to this video from Tesco, the chain saw the number of new registered members rise 76%, online sales increase by 130% and the company rise to number one in the South Korean online grocery market. All we want to know is: when will this marvellous idea be arriving in the UK?

16th August 2011