BoingoBox, a Chinese-owned chain of unmanned retail stores currently boasting 200 locations in Mainland China – each open 24-hours a day – is setting its sights on expanding its operation through the world.
BoingoBox, a Chinese-owned chain of unmanned retail stores currently boasting 200 locations in Mainland China – each open 24-hours a day – is setting its sights on expanding its operation through the world.
Photo: technologyreview.com
BingoBox is in talks with several Hong Kong partners to jointly operate unmanned stores and will target areas which don’t have convenience stores, such as parks, villages and public housing estates. The company is also looking to expand into South Korea and Malaysia by the second quarter of 2018.
“As more unmanned BingoBox stores open, we will gain more data on what customers are buying and can offer a customized range of products that appeal to residents in that area at a much cheaper cost [due to economies of scale],” Chen said in an interview..
“By analyzing and acting on BingoBox stores’ consumption data, we never have to worry about excess supply or shortage of perishable foods. As long as there is demand, we will always have supply.”
Chen pioneered the unmanned convenience store concept in China, opening the first BingoBox store in Shanghai in June. Since then, a flurry of start-ups and tech companies have experimented with similar concepts, including Guangzhou-based F5 Future Store.
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In the US, Amazon operates a checkout free store called Amazon Go in a beta program for employees only, while 7-Eleven opened its first unmanned store in Seoul, South Korea in May, called Signature.
Jack Ma’s e-commerce giant Alibaba runs an unmanned coffee shop called Tao Café that makes use of facial recognition and mobile payment technology, and rival JD.com operates two convenience stores that utilize movement and facial recognition to determine what consumers are buying.
The company, whose investors include GGV Capital and Qiming Venture Partners, now operates almost 200 stores on the Mainland and aims to reach 5,000 outlets before the end of next year.
Users scan a QR code with their mobile phones to enter a BingoBox, pick out the items and place them on a checkout counter that automatically scans and tallies up the purchases. Payments are made via mobile wallets such as Alipay or WeChat Pay.
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“Since BingoBox is an unmanned store and requires almost no labor cost, we are able to open in areas with lower foot traffic, compared to traditional convenience stores which pay high rents for prime locations,” Chen said. “When costs are much lower, we don’t have to worry as much about less foot traffic.”
On the mainland, BingoBox stores currently generate about 850 yuan in sales each day, with popular stores raking in as much as 6,000 yuan, according to the company. The shortest time taken for a BingoBox store to break even was five months, Chen said.
Photo:theverge.com
Source: SCMP
