AlipayHK opens unmanned store to showcase futuristic shopping experience

AlipayHK has launched an unmanned store and exhibition to showcase a futuristic retail model. Located at Cityplaza in Tai Koo, the AlipayHK Futureland features five zones where visitors can experience future living, such as how technologies can be applied in entertainment, lifestyle, bill payment, shopping, and travelling. AlipayHK has collaborated with eslite Spectrum to create the "eslite New Living Unmmaned Shop", where more than 80 lifestyle and design products are available. In the store, the Smart Product Shelf can automatically detect items selected from the shelf by customers, and the details of the products will then be displayed on a screen. This is thanks to a built-in sensor that logs information such as the item's country of origin, materials used in production processes, and of course, prices. "Embracing your everyday life with wonder has been eslite Spectrum’s long-term vision, we hope to spread the best of life with people all these years," said Yvonne Lin, director of the eslite Spectrum Hong Kong in Store Development. The AlipayHK Futureland also features an AR fashion store which allows customers to simulate clothes and a working exhibit demonstrating the ease of settling gas, electricity, telephone, internet bills using Alipay tools. An interactive game zone and a photographic zone are open to the public as well. Running until 17 March, AlipayHK Futureland is not the first unmanned Alipay store to appear in Hong Kong. In September 2018, AlipayHK opened the AlipayHK Next Store at Olympian City, showcasing clothes and accessories with RFID tags, as well as a robotic coffee-serving arm. AlipayHK will launch mobile payment services in the Greater Bay Area in March and prior to that, it has already expanded mobile payment connectivity to Japanese department store Daimaru in Hakata, Fukuoka. Commenting on the future, Jennifer Tan, CEO of Alipay Payment Services (HK) said, "We almost finish the cross-border payment testing. After that, AlipayHK users will be able to shop in stores where both Alipay and AlipayHK are available. We hope to expand our footprint (AlipayHK) to the Greater Bay Area and cover other Chinese cities in 2019."