퍼져가는 `언택트(untact) 마케팅`...무인주문•결제 봇물 A growing number of retail stores in Korea are letting customers in around the clock... so they can browse and shop by themselves.
No salespeople or cashiers at all.
Kim Hyesung reports.
Using a credit card to verify their identity, customers can enter a jean store that has no employees.
Customers can freely look around, try on the clothes, and then buy them to go or get them delivered.
"Open 24 hours, people can come to shop anytime they want. Located in Hongdae, visitors come after work or a drink. They can also choose a pair of jeans and get it delivered the very next day, no need to carry it around. Since opening last October, sales have continued to double on-month."
Called 'untact' marketing, meaning 'no contact', these stores avoid face-to-face contact between the seller and buyer.
They are growing rapidly in Korea and across the world... from Amazon Go stores that have no cashier... to movie theaters and restaurants where customers use touch-screens to choose what they want and pay the bill.
"In most stores, sales assistant usually follow me around, asking me what I want. It makes me a little uncomfortable. But in self-stores I don't have to feel pressured to buy a product that the sales assistant recommends. I can just look for goods I had in mind myself, try them on for myself and see what really suits me."
According to a survey by Daehaknaeil, one out of four Koreans in their 20s prefer messenger chats to face to face conversations.
"Millennials, the so-called mobile generation, those in their teens and 20s, rely heavily on smartphones. They are more individualistic and want speed and fast transactions. Eating alone, drinking alone and shopping alone instead of people-to-people services. This is becoming a global t0-000111rend."
The rising minimum wage, which went up by double digits in the last two years, is also pushing retail owners to adopt untact marketing services in Korea.
While this untact marketing trend is set to grow even further, experts also warn that it could lead to job losses and an 'untact divide', leaving behind those who are not familiar with the new technology.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.
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