NHN Payco’s Payco Order. (image: NHN Payco)
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — As the aftermath of the novel coronavirus outbreak, technologies that can reduce anxiety and fear in daily life are rapidly gaining popularity.
In particular, so-called ‘untact’ ordering services are quickly gaining ground at restaurants.
These types of services allow customers to order and pay for their food at the same time using their smartphone and QR codes.
As there is no need for staff to take orders or process payments as before, these services are drawing more attention not only because they can reduce personnel and restaurant congestion, but also because they reduce person-to-person contact at a time when fear of spreading the virus is high.
South Korea’s top Internet portal operator Naver Corp.’s untact ordering and payment service Table Order has been expanding at a fast pace since its official launch in late September of last year.
Currently, the number of franchises using Naver’s service surpassed 10,000, according to industry sources.
Meanwhile, NHN Payco, a simple payment service operated by Naver, introduced its “Payco Order” service in July of last year.
As such, there are about 10,000 franchises in this service that are able to accept orders and payments using QR codes.
South Korea’s top food delivery app operator Woowa Brothers Corp. also runs an offline restaurant order payment service, “Baemin Order.”
Furthermore, blockchain technology, which once seemed to be the sole domain of cryptocurrency speculators, is now moving into everyday life.
LG CNS Co., an IT service subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Group, established a blockchain-based platform last month that manages the production and consumption history of eco-friendly farm products with the Jeollanamdo Provincial Government.
Due to the nature of the blockchain, which features the distribution storage of information, it is impossible to commit forgery or make any alterations to records, and the system has the advantage of tracking the entire history of the food in question, including production, processing, logistics, distribution and consumption, within one or two minutes.
“As the COVID-19 virus from China hits Korea, there is growing anxiety about food,” said a source at LG CNS.
“With this platform, we can check whether or not we are going to certify agricultural products, as well as whether we are going to have hot and humid conditions during delivery.”
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
