Unmanned automated Bingobox shops

Shelves of BingoBox outlet in Shanghai are lined with instant noodles, beer and bags of duck neck without any staff. As China’s labour costs are rising and higher than Latin America, the manufacturers are employing robots to production lines and retail China is being more automated.

Chen Zilin, BingoBox’s founder, who plans to launch over 200 automated stores by the end the next month said: “ Labour costs are high”.  Amazon Go is also planning automated stores in the near future. Each store costing RMB 100,000 ( £11,000,  $14,800) to set up, with monthly operating costs of RMB 2, 500, can allow wider profit margin.

“We have built a team of artificial intelligence experts to research and develop technologies, including product recognition and sorting algorithms,” Chen Cilin said.

BingoBox had  GGV venture capital investment and Qiming Venture partners in China. The rival chain F5 Future Store received backing from Sinovation Ventures, run by former Google China boss Kai-Fu Lee.

The entrance to the BingoBox in Shanghai is unlocked by the use of mobile phone app. Customers scan items for payment, with theft prevented by use of real-name registration and CCTV monitoring