"Homeplus: Virtual Subway Store" Cannes Lions Media Category Winner

Here we have the "Grand Prix" award winner in the category of Media Lions at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. It is an extraordinary campaign and i was simply amazed by it.

 

The Idea

South Korea is a unique market. Even the most powerful global corporations tend to fail miserably there. However TESCO has been evolving and adjusting to the local market. It even changed the name itself, from TESCO to HOMEPLUS. Eventually it grew up to become No. 2 in Korea but it had to overcome one obstacle which was fewer stores compared to the No. 1 company, E-mart.

For that they conducted a market study to better understand the current needs. Koreans are the 2nd most hard-working people in the world and  for them, grocery shopping once a week is a horrible task. Knowing that they've came with a brilliant idea: Let the store come to the people!

They created virtual stores in subway stations, hoping to take advantage of the "unoccupied" time while people wait and blend their products into their everyday lives. The first attempt was at busy subway stations in rush hours. How crazy is this? brilliant!

Although virtual, the displays were exactly the same as actual stores but with one difference. Here we use smart phones to shop. Just scan the QR code with your phone, and the product automatically lands in our on-line cart. When the online purchase is done, it will be delivered to our door right after we get home.

 

Results

The campaign results are outstanding and it feels quite good to see so because it makes me want to try it out! 

- Currently, HOMEPLUS is No.1 in the on-line market and is a very close 2nd offline. 

- People can now encounter TESCO HOMEPLUS wherever they go without having to visit the actual store. 

- On-line sales increased tremendously (Nov.2010-Jan.2011), about 130%.

- Through this campaign, 10,287 consumers visited the online HOMEPLUS mall using smartphones and the number of new registered members rose by 76%.

To conclude, technology is something that can take us anywhere and this is the proof. Its one thing to make your shopping online in the market website, but to be able and do it anywhere and in a way that we can save up time for other activities is absolutely perfect.

Check it out:

Awesome!