未来超市 离我们有多远?

Future Market:How Far Is It from Us?

可曾想过：去超市购物时购物车可自己上电梯、包装全机器运作，甚至收银都无人工？

Imagine such a picture:when you go shopping in the supermarket,your shopping cart goes onto the escalators automatically,all the packaging are operated by the machines,and even the payment is finished through the machines at the cashier's? Well,that's not fictional.Recently,the first electronic future supermarket,with investment of over 30 million yuan by Anhui Letus Investment Co.,Ltd.,was opened in China.The supermarket, which is called Letus Supermarket,adopts more than 20 top technologies,and the cost is 5 times that of ordinary supermarkets. The investors hope to open 400 such supermarkets within 3 years. Globally,the'future market'is still for exhibition and theoretical exploration.Previously,Metro tried it in Germany. Compared with Letus Supermarket,the Metro Supermarket in Germany is even more futuristic. However,insiders hold that the future markets may be faced with difficulties in expansion and profit due to its high cost and the consumers' consumption habit,though novel they are.But when the supermarkets reach certain scale,it is expected that the cost will be reduced.So,it seems that there is still a long way to go before the Chinese consumers can enjoy the convenience of future supermarkets.