Recently, an unmanned retail shop(无人超市) named Taocafe was opened on July 8th, 2017 in Hangzhou, If you want to shop in it, you should know some steps about how to buy and pay for the goods.
Firstly, customers need to open their Taobao app on mobile phones, and then scan the QR(二维码) code to enter the shop. After that, they don't need to use the phones while shopping. Then, after ordering products, customers need to walk through a payment door and they can finish paying for goods in a few seconds. As they leave the shop, an in-store camera checks whether they are only taking out the goods they paid off.
Many people regarded that Taocafe will be opened all over the world one day, but the Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong denied it. He said the initial purpose of opening this unmanned retail shop is to serve those hoping to run a cafe by helping them build a smart cafe more easily, rather than Alibaba running such shops itself. Besides, Alibaba will offer different kinds of services to the shops, such as digital and technological platforms, accounts, facial recognition, etc
Actually, Taocafe is not the first unmanned retail shop. In 2016, Amazon's first unmanned store was opened in Seattle. But it is only a private store for people working for Amazon only. In 2017, a Chinese company had already opened several unmanned convenience stores. This is the first Bingbox store without staffs in it in Shanghai. In addition, a company named Wheels has also designed a model self-driving supermarket that leads to different places throughout the day to help customers.
These unmanned retail shops all have their special advantages, which proves that a new economy age is coming. However, some people worry that many people will lose their jobs if the retail shops do not need staffs any more
