This Christmas French commuters will be able to shop from a “virtual wall” in one of the five stations where these new shopping outlets have been installed. Instead of a normal advert, these surfaces will be covered with a smart screen which allows travellers to shop by pointing their smartphones’ cameras at the smart “wall”.
The new shopping experience will be available in five stations close to the French capital. The “virtual walls” were installed in partnership with rueducommerce.com, a French e-retailer that specializes in high-tech products. A selection of the retailer’s products will be available to buy. To make a purchase customers will need to download the retailer’s mobile application and scan the articles with their smartphone. They can then pay through traditional online methods and choose how they want their goods delivered.
This experience was pioneered by British supermarket giant Tesco in Korea and copied by Carrefour in two other train stations in France. This time, with goods going beyond groceries, it remains to be seen if French customers are ready to buy a camera or a tablet via their smartphone in a busy train station.
