SPC Group recently announced that Baskin Robbins had launched its first unmanned outlet in the world, dubbed flow, in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.
SPC Group is South Korea’s foremost food company, which operates the premium ice cream brand Baskin Robbins. The new store with around 120 kinds of ice creams, desserts, and snacks will be run around the clock without workers. Delivery services are also available between 10am and 2am.
Unlike traditional Baskin Robbins, however, customers cannot order different flavours in a cone or in a cup at the same time. They can buy only ready-made products.
“Customers can purchase products by scanning their barcodes. If they have any problems, they can call our managers any time. We plan to increase the number of unmanned stores,” an SPC official said.
More and more unmanned outlets mushroomed after the virus pandemic over the past two years throughout the country. In fact, retailers have debuted cashier-less stores even before the Covid-19 outbreak, as demonstrated by Amazon Go, which came to town in 2018.
In Korea, convenience store chain E-mart 24 started opening unmanned stores in Seoul and other cities in 2017. The company currently has more than 800 stores, which are fully or partially automated.
