South Korean C-Store Opens Its Second Autonomous Store in Seoul

South Korean convenience store chain GS25, owned by GS Retail, has opened its second autonomous c-store in Seoul in collaboration with retail AI startup Fainders.AI.

The first location opened in October. The newest store is powered by proprietary deep learning algorithms and vision AI technology from Fainders.AI, utilizing only 2D cameras, according to a media release from the startup.

South Korea is home to roughly 56,000 convenience stores, which Fainders.AI says face current challenges such as a steep increase in the minimum wage and staffing shortages.

These autonomous stores have notably cut hardware costs for GS25 and required fewer computing resources, per the release.

"With dynamic changes in Korea, especially in demographics, we believe the expansion of autonomous stores in Korea is approaching fast,” Myungwon Ham, founder and CEO at Fainders.AI, said in the release.

Ham says Fainders.AI's latest technology adds additional "painkilling" value to retailers. 

"Existing autonomous stores can only stock as much as 50% of traditional shelves. This leads to sales losses for offline retail," Ham said. "In contrast, our weight sensor-mounted shelves boast the shelf capacity improved by 50% compared to other autonomous stores."