China's Supermarkets on a Smart Phone

A Chinese online store is now using smartphone technology to allow people to shop for their groceries over the internet.

CRI's He Fei has more on the future of online shopping here in China.

 

In Shanghai's underground metro 1 stations, posters of supermarket shelves adorn 2 the walls.

Busy commuters waiting for their trains can quickly scan 3 these virtual 4 shelves using their smart phones, order goods, and expect to find their orders delivered to their doorstep by the time they return home.

Even older Chinese consumers are adopting this revolutionary new way of shopping.

Ms. Zao, from Shanghai's Pudong district, is accepting delivery of her weekly groceries - ordered by her daughter earlier that day from a nearby metro station.

Living on the fourth floor of an apartment block without lifts, she welcomes the new method which delivers the shopping to her doorstep.

"We bought drinks, canned food and water today. My daughter bought them online with her phone and then they delivered them here. This is very convenient for me. She often shops there".

The concept was adapted to meet the needs of the Chinese market by Yihaodian.com, a young online store which borrowed the idea from the trials of virtual supermarkets conducted by Tesco in neighboring and technology-savvy South Korea.

Users first download unique software from the company's site. The application allows shoppers to scan the barcodes of products with the phone's camera and then directly place an order with just a few touches of their phone's screen. Payment can be made using credit card or by cash upon arrival.

According to iResearch's latest report, in the second quarter of 2011, the volume of sales through cell phones quadrupled from the previous year's level.

Philip Zhang, the Chief Marketing 6 Officer, says the average mobile shopper 5 in China would be a 24 year-old recent graduate, most probably male.

"Smart phone users are often quite young, they grew up with mobile phones, and many owned them in middle school. They are very used to working on mobile phones, and this includes shopping."

Down in the subways users have mixed reactions.

Shanghai resident Lian Jianhao says that he favours the convenience of mobile e-commerce, but he would like to see customer service and security improved before he decides to go for it.

"I am in favour of mobile e-commerce because now we are often too busy to do chores around the house, it is time consuming and isn't convenient. But with mobile e-commerce, customer service is very important. It needs to provide security to the consumers."

The company is optimistic about the market. Its next plan is to roll out these virtual supermarkets at bus stops and other smaller cities across the country.

For CRI, I'm He Fei.