Nov 2018 TUKU Conveyor in Shanghai

TUKU has shown automation solution presented a new retail supermarket that is equipped with a wide range of overhead conveyor to handle the online order fulfilment.

Super Market Conveyor Belt

New kind of superstore: Robots, apps and overhead conveyor belts

Customers use  mobile app, using it to scan barcodes throughout the store to find out things such as product information and recipe ideas. New retail operator knows everything a customer has purchased, so it offers users the option in the future to quickly order the same goods to be delivered to their home.

The stores double as distribution centers, where assigned employees roam around filling bags with online orders, then place them on a conveyor belt to the delivery center.

Typically, customers within a three-kilometer radius can receive their groceries within 30 minutes.

  • Alibaba opened 65 retail stores over the past year, in an effort to merge online and offline retail.

  • Customers use an app to scan products, get information and pay for their groceries.

  • Alibaba is also opening robot-using restaurants, where food is ordered entirely through an app and delivered by machines.

Getting customers offline to become comfortable ordering online could be a key pillar to Alibaba’s strategy.

Customers pay through their accounts on Taobao or Alipay, the online payment platform from Alibaba-affiliated Ant Financial. At select Hema stores, customers can even pay by scanning their faces at kiosks.

Connected to a Hema store in Shanghai, Alibaba recently introduced its new, Robot.He restaurant. Inside, customers use their phone to scan a QR code at their table and begin ordering from the menu – all using the Hema app. From there, most dishes, save for large soups requiring a human server, are delivered to tables by robotic devices.

The high-tech stores appear poised for all manner of innovation.