“Homeplus” Virtual Grocery Shopping
It’s not surprising that hospitals are searching for ideas that create new revenue streams, in the face of declining reimbursements for existing services. “Retail medicine” is rising to that challenge, but the field is relatively new and open to experimentation. This piece isn’t about the virtual drug store, but it easily could be imagined that way. In South Korea, a supermarket has created a virtual shopping center on the walls of a subway station. Each product pictured has a quick-response code which shoppers can capture on their cell phone. Those products go into an e-cart, then proceed to checkout, and finally are delivered to the customer’s home at the end of the day. Obviously, the same sort of e-shopping could be set up in fitness centers, retirement communities, hospitals, airports, etc. MORE