Large Retailers Dreaming of 'Delivery Innovation'... Yoon Seong-ro, 4th Committee Chairman, Visits Site

On the Morning of the 8th, On-site Visit to Lotte Mart Junggye Branch
Examining the Operating Principles of the Smart Store
Afternoon Meeting with Distribution Industry and Companies

Yoon Sung-ro, Chairman of the 4th Industrial Revolution Committee (center in the photo), visited the Lotte Mart Junggye branch at 10:30 a.m. on the 8th to learn about the operation method of the smart store and the 'Baro Delivery' service.

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] On the morning of the 8th at 10:30 AM, Yoon Sung-ro, Chairman of the 4th Industrial Revolution Committee, visited the Lotte Mart Junggye branch to learn about the operation of the smart store, an online-offline integrated store, and the 'Baro Delivery' service.

Prior to the scheduled corporate meeting in the afternoon, an on-site visit was conducted to observe changes in the distribution industry. Some industry officials, including Park Se-ho, Executive Director of Lotte Mart DT Strategy Division, and Park Chang-hyun, Executive Director & S-LAB Head of Emart Next Generation Innovation, accompanied the visit.

Chairman Yoon toured the vertical lift (picking station) installed in the center of the Junggye store, the conveyor belts running to the ceiling, and the rear automated packing facilities in sequence. He also visited the customer-only drive-thru corner located near the delivery vehicle collection area. The drive-thru corner has seen a surge in demand for after-work grocery shopping due to contact avoidance caused by COVID-19.

The Lotte Mart Junggye branch was selected as the site visit store because it proactively introduced big data and logistics technologies. The Baro Delivery service is a system that picks and packs items inside the store simultaneously with online orders and delivers them to customers within a maximum of two hours. It is optimized for grocery products such as fresh foods, ready meals, and side dishes. In addition to the Baro Delivery service, an online reservation order system that delivers on designated dates and times is also operated.

Park Se-ho, who provided the on-site explanation, said, "With total orders exceeding 1,000, the store's mobile division also turned profitable," adding, "By integrating new technologies such as the picking station, errors in order and delivery have drastically decreased."

After touring the site, Chairman Yoon said, "It was impressive that a new labor demand for picking tasks emerged during the transition to a smart store," and added, "There are additional steps in the delivery process due to technological limitations, but if artificial intelligence (AI) and big data technologies develop further, those issues could be resolved."

The 4th Industrial Revolution Committee will hold a corporate meeting at 2 PM at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul to identify policy tasks in the distribution industry and listen to on-site difficulties. Attendees are expected to include Executive Directors Park Se-ho and Park Chang-hyun, Kim Seung-tae, Director of Homeplus, Kim Young-gyun, Executive Director of Hyundai Department Store, Song Cheol-wook, Head of Market Kurly, Heo Young-jae, Vice Chairman of the Korea Chain Store Association, Shin Chi-min, Executive Director of the Korea Department Store Association, Kim Yoon-tae, Vice Chairman of the Korea Online Shopping Association, and Seo Deok-ho, Director of the Distribution Logistics Promotion Institute.

Meanwhile, the Presidential 4th Industrial Revolution Committee, tasked with roles such as conducting joint public-private data governance, plans to promote regular meetings starting this year. The meetings with the distribution industry are part of this effort, with plans to expand industry communication to various sectors such as mobility and education in the future.