Hong Kong introduced shops without staff which received mixed reviews from first shoppers as some of them failed to self-checkouts.
Li Lai-ngun, 65, bought a T-shirt at the 4,000 sq ft pop-up shop a day after AlipayHK launched it in the Olympian City mall as she was eager to try the new shopping experience in one of Hong Kong's first shops without staff.
However, the technology failed her.
After trying the self-checkout payment for five minutes, Li was told her two credit cards are not working. She could not determine what went wrong, so she had to put the item back on the shelf.
"At my age, I don't think I need technology like this," she said. "It's not very complicated to use, but I want to feel secure when buying things."
She further noted that she wasn't familiar using AlipayHK app, where it has more than 1.5 million signed up users in the city. The company is a unit of Ant Financial Services Group which is an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding.
On Wednesday, the staff-less Okashi Land pop-up snack store in Mong Kok and "AlipayHK Next Store" pioneered the grab-and-go unstaffed shop concept in Hong Kong.
According to the South China Morning Post, the local officials wanted to make a smart city, which drew HK$50 billion (US$6.37 billion) fund to boost the industry.
Shoppers can go to shops by scanning a QR code through their mobile phone. They can pay with just a few taps and another scan with the help of radio frequency identification technology installed in the self-checkout system.
Locally listed Four Seas Group (owns Okashi Land) is trying to test the local market with EasyGo - a start-up based in Guangzhou operating more than 100 unstaffed convenience stores on the mainland.
Lin Lechang, the founder of EasyGo, is hoping to use Hong Kong as the starting point and plans to expand to Southeast Asia in the future.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive of AliPayHK Jennifer Tan said the new store of the company is the largest in Hong Kong. She noted AliPayHK is more of a technology company, not a retailer, and it was more about giving an experience than selling products.
"We want to be a pioneer and demonstrate how technology can help with retail sales," Tan said. "We hope the business sector and the customers can have a different shopping experience [in our store]."
The Introduction Of Shops Without Staff Drew Mixed Reviews
The idea of evolving into a smart city is still an open question as some first shoppers, like Li, stated they still prefer the help of a real staff when shopping.
Jordan Lau See-wai, who is working in the food and beverage sector, defined the experience as "fresh and fun," but paying with the help of a real cashier is much faster. He said machine payments or e-wallets are "relatively slow" as some customers were still not accustomed to the electronic payment platform.
But, he also believed the process would be faster when machines upgraded in the future.
AlipayHK Next Store and Okashi Land have installed CCTV in stores to avoid shoplifting incidents.
Mariana Kou Chung-yin, an equity research analyst with investment group CLSA, expressed optimism about the future of unstaffed shops in Hong Kong.
Mariana Kou Chung-yin, who is an equity research analyst with investment group CLSA, is positive about unstaffed shops in Hong Kong in the future. She believed the model would likely be popular in the city after two years as she described Hong Kong consumers as adaptable.
