Smile to get discounts in Tmall's unmanned supermarket

Israeli scientist Dan Shechtman, the winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, experiences "smiling to get discounts" function in Alibaba's Tmall unmanned supermarket at the Light of the Internet Expo of the fourth World Internet Conference, also known as Wuzhen Summit, in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang province, December 3, 2017. [Photo/IC]

Participants gave thumbs-up in Alibaba's Tmall unmanned supermarket after receiving discount for smiling at the Light of the Internet Expo Dec 2 to 6, part of the fourth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province.

"It's amazing to get discount by just smiling. This is what I have never experienced before," said Dan Shechtman, the winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Shechtman enjoyed the "smiling to get discounts" offer in Alibaba's Tmall unmanned supermarket in Wuzhen.

Ni Guangnan, professor of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, also spoke highly of Alibaba's Tmall unmanned supermarket.

People can not only enter the supermarket by just swiping a QR code with their cell phone but also get different discounts based on how much they like a product which is reflected in their smile. They can make the payment when they leave the supermarket as the mall has already recorded their identity when they entered the outlet.

"Unmanned retail not only needs to solve problems of 'Who are you?' and 'What have you bought?' but also 'What do you want to buy?'. That is the original reason for us to add emotional marketing strategy," said Yuan Yuefeng, Alibaba's senior expert in unmanned retail technology.

Unmanned supermarket should not be cold but humane. On the one hand it should provide customers more convenient experience. One the other hand it should help business owners to provide more precise and optimized services to customers at the same time, said Jin Cheng, manager of Alibaba's Tmall unmanned supermarket.

As an independent exhibition project, Alibaba's Tmall unmanned supermarket is an important part of Alibaba's new retail strategy and showcases many unmanned retail industry's global pioneering technologies, such as "behavioral trajectory analysis", "emotion recognition" and "eye tracking".