THERE was a long queue in front of a cashier-less cafe opened by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba over the weekend, as shoppers waited to experience firsthand the company’s new brick and mortar store. Entry into Tao Cafe in Hangzhou, capital of East China’s Zhejiang Province, is through ticket gates similar to those at subway stations, however, customers scan their smartphones instead of tickets. The 200-square-meter store offering beverages, fast food and snacks can accommodate 50 customers at a time. To enter and make a purchase, shoppers need only a smartphone with Alibaba’s Taobao e-commerce app. The store has assigned assistants to help customers get familiar with how Tao Cafe works. A woman surnamed Shao said she enjoyed the experience of buying a cup of coffee in the store. “Your profile picture is shown on the screen after you place an order. It also shows the wait time. There is no hassle of waiting for your name to be called like in ordinary cafes,” she said. A tourist from Shenzhen said assistants told him to slowly pick up goods from the shelf so the system has time to confirm his selection. “We need to learn. It is a whole new shopping experience, this cashier-free store,” said the man surnamed Wu. As he walked out of the cafe, his bill was automatically paid via his smartphone. Zeng Xiaodong, senior technical adviser at Ant Finance, said the cashier-free cafe combines automated visual sensors and facial recognition to reduce error rates. He said all goods in the cafe are digitalized. Each commodity, its placement on the shelf and its purchase are subject to digital recognition. The development of smart shopping has benefitted from the fast expansion of e-payment technology. China’s banking institutions handled more than 25.7 billion mobile payments last year with a transaction volume of 157.55 trillion yuan (US$23 trillion), according to the central bank. (Xinhua) |