China Unmanned Stores: What does the future of shopping look like?

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Unmanned stores aren't quite the novelty they once were in China. There is an increasing amount of them springing up around the country every week, from supermarkets and noodle shops, to even bookstores. So is this just a fad, or is it something which will become part of our daily lives? CGTN's Li Jianhua visited one in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou to find out more.

LI JIANHUA GUANGZHOU "The idea of unmanned stores first caught the world's attention two years ago in December when Amazon announced its cashier-less store. Ever since then, a flurry of tech companies in China have launched their own versions of unmanned stores, and now behind me is an unmanned bookstore in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Let's go in and take a look.”

And here is how to get into the bookstore. Scan the QR code on the glass door, wait until a mini programme appears. As soon as the door flashes, I'm in the bookstore. Books line the walls, all hand-picked by the managers.

LI JIANHUA GUANGZHOU "In this bookstore that's no more than 50 square metres, you can find all different kinds of books, you have economics, film, business, literature and also history.”

But how do you pay for a book, on the back of it you can see this RFID thing, which uses electromagnetic fields to track the book on your way out.

Standing in the payment area, scan the QR code once again, pay for it, you have made a successful purchase, all very convenient.

FANG HAO CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, IFANX BOOKSHOP "It can save some labor costs. Also, we collect some online information from the bricks and mortar stores, like the customers' shopping habits and their book preferences. Then, in the future, we know what books we should provide."

And Fang said they can only collect their customers' shopping preferences, but not their personal information.

LI JIANHUA GUANGZHOU "An unmanned store, a lot of work goes into fine-tuning the day-to-day operation. Though to be honest, I expected it to be more popular, it's pretty empty in here. And since a lot of technologies are involved, it's also expensive to run. But experts are saying it's an investment in the future. LJH, CGTN, GUANGZHOU."