WeChat opens its first unmanned convenience store in Shanghai
The pop-up shop will only be open for the next two weeks
In a glimpse of shopping to come, Chinese tech giant Tencent has opened up its first-ever convenience store in Shanghai, which will be run by China’s favorite mobile app rather than human beings.
The company’s ultra-popular social messaging app WeChat has already tied itself inextricably to modern life in China — including to the bank accounts of more than 200 million of its users. The next step now appears to be the emerging industry of unmanned retail.
At the pop-up WeChat shop inside The Mixc mall in Minhang District, there is no cash and no cashiers. Instead, customers simply have to scan a QR code via WeChat to enter the shop, pick up the items that they want, and scan another QR code to leave. During that final scan, the system will automatically detect which items you have selected and tally up your purchase.
Obviously, to use this shop, you’ll need to have a verified WeChat account that is linked to a bank card. The place is stocked with all the typical products you might find at a convenience store, plus WeChat merch.
The “flash” store, dubbed “We Life,” will be open until February 4th, though WeChat promises that the concept will return in the future, in greater numbers, and with facial recognition software. The South China Morning Post reports that the shop received 30,000 visitors over the weekend.
Cashierless convenience stores appear to be a concept that is destined to take off in Chinese cities. Following the launch of the first Amazon Go shop in late 2016, a number of different unmanned shops popped up in China last year, including Moby Mart and BingoBox.
Last July, Chinese internet giant Alibaba also got into the game, opening up its own cashier-free supermarket, the Tao Café, in Hangzhou. In the near future, we look forward to yet another battle playing out between China’s tech titans.