In South Korea, ‘flying store’ offers wifi and online shopping

The Emart supermarket has created a wifi-based flying store, enabling those within its range to buy products online.

Consumers in the Czech Republic have already been able to do their grocery shopping through a virtual store in the form of Mall.cz. Now, South Korea supermarket Emart has created a wifi-based flying store, enabling those within its range to buy products online.

Developed by creative agency Cheil, the campaign saw a large, remote-controlled balloon – fitted with a wifi router – flown over populous locations in Seoul, such as public squares, shopping centers and transport hubs. People who saw the balloon were encouraged to connect to the wifi through their smartphones, which automatically directed them to the Emart app. When downloaded, the app offered discounted products and vouchers to use on its online store. According to the company, although it targets families on a budget, often they will just go to the nearest convenience store and pay higher prices rather than make their way to an Emart. Through the flying store, Emart was able to bring its competitive prices direct to the consumer. The video below shows the innovative marketing campaign in action:

According to Cheil, the campaign saw sales through Emart’s mobile store increase 157 percent, as users bought products then and there. Meanwhile, its physical stores also experienced a 9.5 percent rise in sales as those who downloaded vouchers returned to use them. Combining both an online and offline presence, could mobile wifi-based stores such as this lay the foundation for a more sustainable business model?

Spotted by: Murray Orange