TESCO RETAIL | Subway Virtual Store | 2011
You don't go to the store, the store comes to you / TESCO Homeplus "Subway Virtual Store"
If you can't win on number of stores, just stop trying to add more. Instead, turn an entire subway platform into a supermarket. Scan a QR code and your shopping is done—by the time you get home, your groceries are already there. In 2011, this idea out of South Korea got the whole world talking.
The problem
South Korea is a country of such hard workers that even weekend grocery shopping feels like a chore. In this brutally competitive market, where both Walmart and Carrefour pulled out, Tesco survived by rebranding as Homeplus and climbed to second place. But it still couldn't match the number of stores run by the market leader, E-mart. And there was no money to build more.
The insight
The time spent waiting for a subway train is some of the most boring, wasted time in a person's day. So why not flip that around and have the store come meet people there instead? The Cannes jury reportedly agreed almost unanimously that what set this apart was its fresh take on consumer insight.
The idea
Life-size prints of supermarket shelves, looking just like the real store, were put up on subway pillars and platform screen doors. Each product had its own QR code—scan it with your phone and it went straight into an online cart. Complete the payment there, and by the time you got home, your order would already be delivered. At Seolleung Station, more than 500 products lined the platform.
What happened
At the 2011 Cannes Lions, the campaign won the Media Grand Prix, along with Gold in both Media and Outdoor—the first top prize South Korea had ever won in its 58-year history. New online sign-ups rose 76%, and sales rose 130%, propelling Homeplus straight to the top of the online market. It also won an award at SXSW in 2012.
Afterthought
Put simply, it's just photos of supermarket shelves pasted up in a subway station. But the moment someone figured out how to turn a physical limitation—too few stores—into something else entirely, waiting time, the whole game changed. Seeing how this 2011 invention still gets referenced everywhere today, you realize it really was the real deal.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2011
