GS25's delivery robot completes its delivery task, then autonomously calls the elevator and boards it.
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chunhan] GS25 announced on the 13th that it has expanded its service, where AI-equipped robots directly deliver products ordered via smartphone, to a store located in the GS Tower in Yeoksam-dong last month.
This is the second case since the industry-first indoor robot delivery service was introduced at a GS25 store in LG Science Park, Gangseo-gu, at the end of last year. GS25 plans to rapidly expand the indoor robot delivery service this year to GS25 stores located in high-rise office buildings, hospitals, and officetels.
The robot delivery service has produced concrete results, such as increasing sales at stores where the service was introduced. In fact, at the GS Tower store, the number of indoor deliveries performed by the robot averaged 22 per day from the 4th of last month to the 12th of this month. During the operation period, a cumulative total of 880 deliveries was recorded, and the delivery service sales at the store increased by 50.1% compared to the previous month. Usage of the robot delivery service was concentrated between 10-11 a.m. and 3-4 p.m. Orders for meal replacements such as lunch boxes, bread, and salads were common in the morning, while orders for snacks like coffee, snacks, and jelly were frequent in the afternoon.
The robot delivery service begins when customers order GS25 products through KakaoTalk's order service. Once the customer completes the order, the store staff places the products in the robot and inputs the customer's contact information and destination. The robot starts delivery autonomously, calls the elevator wirelessly, boards it by itself, and moves to the destination. Upon arrival, the robot calls the customer's phone to notify them of the product's arrival and sends a password via text message required for product pickup. The customer enters the password on the robot's monitor and then receives the product.
The robot can deliver up to 15kg of products at once to multiple (three) locations, and the travel time from the GS25 store to the farthest delivery destination within GS Tower (24th floor) is about 10 minutes. The minimum order amount is 6,000 KRW, and unlike general delivery services, there is no delivery fee.
A GS25 representative said, "Since introducing the service where robots deliver products ordered by customers for free, it has received great response and the number of users has surged. We plan to rapidly expand the convenience store robot delivery service to provide customers with a new concept shopping environment where they can experience robots in daily life."
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