This image shows the E-Mart Everyday store that will open on Aug. 17, 2018, after undergoing remodeling to allow consumers to pay without going through a checkout counter. (image: E-Mart Inc.)
SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — E-Mart Everyday Inc., retail giant Shinsegae’s supermarket chain operator, said Thursday it will open a “cashier-less” store in Seoul this week in its latest effort to secure competitiveness through the use of new technologies.
The 212-square-meter store in Gangnam, southern Seoul, will open Friday after remodeling to allow customers to pay via Shinsegae’s mobile payment service SSG Pay without going through a checkout counter, the company said.
There will be a self-checkout counter for those who cannot use the app or do not have mobile devices, and a cashier for the sale of alcohol and cigarettes, which require age verification, according to E-Mart.
The new store will also have electronic labels to replace paper labels to improve the effectiveness and accuracy with which it provides price information, E-Mart said.
The launch of the “smart store” is the latest in a series of efforts made by Shinsegae to make full use of new technologies to improve customers’ offline shopping experience.
In May, E-Mart Inc., South Korea’s leading discount store chain operator, conducted a three-week test operation of a robot to provide automated concierge service to shoppers at one of its malls in Seoul. In April, it unveiled an autonomous shopping cart for a four-day test run at its warehouse-style supermarket Traders in Hanam, just southeast of the capital city.
(Yonhap)
