By Lee Ji-yoon
Homeplus, a local supermarket chain, said Wednesday it will open a “virtual store” in a subway station in southern Seoul so that customers can buy products without visiting an outlet.
The virtual store will start operation from Thursday at Seonreung Station in Yeoksam-dong.
According to the No. 2 discount store chain, smartphone owners can buy products by waving their mobile phones at photographs of products displayed on an advertisement within the subway station.
Because the photographs are displayed with bar codes, the mobile phones will scan the data and debit the purchase. Customers can order their purchases online and have them delivered wherever they choose.
Some 500 processed food products and household goods will be sold in the first stage of the operation with available items increasing in coming months, the company said.
“The virtual store has realized the idea that consumers can do shopping without visiting an offline store. It can be called a mobile revolution in the retail sector,” said Seol Do-won, executive vice president.
(
jylee@heraldcorp.com)
