Stop Shops: Virtual Store Shelves in Subway & Bus Stations

virtual shopping

If you are going to have to wait for a ride anyway, why not do some shopping? No, not on your laptop or that tiny screen of your smartphone – right there on the wall, via virtual aisles on a life-scaled billboard full of products.

First in South Korea thanks to Tesco, and now popping up in Australia and other countries, it works something like this: a range of popular everyday products is displayed on the wall; scan the QR codes of the ones you want and your purchase will be added to a digital shopping cart.

virtual shopping south korea

In many cases, your purchases will arrive the next day – in some, they will be waiting for you when you get home, saving you that side trip to the corner store or local supermarket.

virtual shopping australia stations

If nothing else, this presents an interesting technology-bridging mechanism for those reluctant to shop online. They choose from real products, presented at actual size, in a potentially more familiar mode of browsing than via the internet.