World's favourite pastime.

The world's first department store, Bon Marche established in Paris in 1838 predates the giant American Macys, Wanamakers department store which started operation in the 1860s and both predate the first self serve grocery super market, Piggly Wiggly which opened in Memphis in 1916. I give you these interesting facts as the world of shopping takes another step into the future. We have all become accustomed to online shopping for our favourite products and nothing seems out of reach to consumers with access to the net. The department stores have certainly felt the effect of online consumerism but the grocery super markets have had only a slight online dent in the weekly shopping cycle. Seems we still like to squeeze the rock melons and wait in endless lines with our trolleys laden.

Two years ago, UK chain Tesco was trying to penetrate the Korean grocery market where the general population spent a lot of time at work and commuting and as such shopped locally. Their decision, to try and keep up with the local grocery brand on every corner by building hundreds of stores or come up with an alternative. Tesco came up with the virtual super market by buying all the subway wall space they could lay their hands on, covering those walls with pictures of grocery filled shelves that commuters could shop from via their smart phones. By simply taking a picture of the QR code attached to the item you want to buy and adding it to your virtual cart, paying with your virtual wallet, you will have those items home delivered before you get off the train. The logistics of building warehouses and the distribution system was much cheaper than constructing a grocery store on every corner and sees Tesco as the leading super market in Korea with an increase in profits of 130%.

Mobile analysts indicate 90% of all phones in the developed world will be smart phones by 2016, leading Tesco to surmise their Korean experiment has legs, which segues to the opening of the same virtual style grocery store at Gatwick Airport. No longer will you have to be concerned if there is fresh milk for a cuppa when you get home from a trip, just take a picture and it will be waiting for you when you get home on the date you select.

While we have gotten used to eBay, Amazon and all manner of online department stores, the green grocer, the butcher, the baker who long ago were rolled into the super markets still seemed ubiquitous to our cycle of life around touching, smelling and tasting the wares as the squeaky wheeled trolleys were pushed around the aisles. Will this next online avenue of convenience see Woolies walls on the unadorned tunnels of Central station, will we see Coles plastering pictures of grocery specials on the sides of buildings and will the next generations care? After all the one thing we are all aiming for with the new modes of convenience shopping, is gaining more time in our lives to do the important things, like shopping!