We have cracked on about the stupidity of virtual shop assistants in shopping malls as a very poor substitute for the real thing but an experiment by Tesco in Korea looks to have made an impact.
Commuters are invited to study a backlit wall of grocery item images while they wait for a train. Using their mobile phones, they scan barcodes attached to each image and compile a grocery order that is then assembled and delivered when they arrive home. Sort of a cross between sitting at your computer and wandering the supermarket aisles. Apparently Korea is the second hardest working country in the world, so convenient time-saving shopping options are important. Let’s hope they have time to eat the food.