Firms adopt unmanned stores concept 无人商店在中国兴起 利润空间高于普通店铺
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No queues and no checkout. Just grab what you need and go.
As much as it may sound like shoplifting, this is the future of grocery shopping, first envisioned by Amazon. But Chinese companies may have jumped ahead, beating the US online retail giant in turning the concept into reality.
Enabled by mobile payment and supported by an array of advanced technologies including facial recognition and voice recognition, unmanned convenience stores have become the latest trend in China’s ever changing tech scene.
Little-known tech start-up BingoBox, based in Guangdong province, has made its name in China this summer by opening its first unmanned convenience store in Shanghai, where 25 million urban dwellers depend heavily on 24-hour stores for convenience.
In a container-like structure stocked with products supplied by French supermarket chain Auchan, BingoBox lets customers go shopping after they are admitted via facial recognition to the 10- square metre area. The security measures ensure that those inside the store are customers and not shoplifters who entered illegally.
Sensors and cameras scattered throughout the area identify items in the shoppers’ carts and automatically charge the customer’s WeChat Wallet, a smartphone-enabled mobile payment run by Tencent, as they walk out the door.
With a dozen such stores under trial operation in China, BingoBox is looking to beat much bigger companies to become the first to commercialise the grab-and-go shopping model on a national scale.
Grab-and-go shopping was first introduced as a future retail concept by Amazon in December 2016, but was only made available to its own staff in the company’s Seattle headquarters.
But in China, unmanned shops may soon become part of daily life as more than 10 companies from big retail chains to small start-ups have jumped onto the bandwagon, with more than 130 million yuan in venture capital money invested in the sector in the past three weeks, according to Chinese research firm IT Juzi.
In theory, unmanned stores that are open 24 hours a day can reduce labour costs and therefore lower retail prices for customers. They even provide consumer insight as the cameras can also capture facial expressions of customers when they are looking at certain product.
In mid-July Alibaba Group unveiled its Tao Cafe unmanned shop concept, though the group has no plans to commercialise it yet.
Alibaba’s Tao Cafe, an unmanned concept store. Online shopping giants such as Alibaba and JD.com are actively seeking to expand into the offline retail industry.
Earlier this month Alibaba unveiled its latest endeavour in new retail – the Hema grocery chain with a fully integrated online and offline experience. The chain, which already has 13 stores across China including in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, allow customers to shop, eat in, and order groceries for delivery – all through their mobile phones.
“We believe the future of new retail will be a harmonious integration of online and offline and Hema is a prime example of this evolution that’s taking place. Hema is a showcase of the new business opportunities that emerge from online-offline integration,” said Alibaba Group chief executive Daniel Zhang Yong.
Despite enthusiasm from industry insiders, some analysts and investors question whether unmanned convenience stores are here to stay or are simply another fad.
There have been complaints from customers, who say such stores are neither smart nor convenient, due to tech glitches they have encountered. And BingboBox has halted its operations in Shanghai twice since June in order to find tune the service.
“The customer experience is key. Unmanned stores can only become a big thing when they can truly save customers’ time and save labour cost. Generating more data and gaining better customer insights are also important for more retailers to adopt the unmanned model,” said Wang Xiaofeng, senior analyst with Forrester Research.
无人商店在中国兴起 利润空间高于普通店铺
就像中国各地的其他便利店一样，上海的缤果盒子门店的货架上摆放着方便面、啤酒以及鸭脖等袋装传统小吃。但缺了点什么——店员。
在创办无人商店的竞赛中，这家中国零售商处于领先位置：目前缤果盒子运营着十几家无人商店，并计划再落地数百家。与此同时，亚马逊的无人商店“亚马逊 Go”还没有对公众开放。
在上海一家超市后方的停车场上，坐落着一个形似《神秘博士》中时间机器的单通道小房子，顾客需要使用手机APP来解锁、开门，然后自行扫描商品进行支付。该店通过实名认证和视频监控来防止盗窃。
开一家缤果盒子的成本为10万元人民币，每月的运营成本为2500元，因此其利润空间比其他店铺更大。分析师们表示，劳动力成本约占中国超市月支出的10%。
阿里巴巴已经试运行一家没有收款台的便利店——在消费者带着一件商品离开的时候，支付就自动完成了。
中国最大的饮料公司之一娃哈哈上月与一家科技公司签约，购买10万套供无人商店使用的结账系统。