In-person stores are a space where customers visit and spend time.

Therefore, we thought that issues arising within that space should be addressed through a firsthand method therein,

not through indirect communications via a different medium.

Therefore, we closely monitored the newly acquired behaviors and habits of customers

at grocery stores due to COVID-19,

and could extract and analyze meaningful data

from actual observations and other statistical sources.

As a result, we could successfully identify both the source of problem and an innovative solution

from the shopping cart handle.

People are overwhelmed by the omnipresent danger of virus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

However, as grocery and household items need to be seen and checked in person before their purchase,

customers often resort to visiting the grocery store despite the reluctance.

Therefore, EMART, Korea’s leading in-person grocery store chain,

needed an original idea in shopping that allows customers to come shop with peace of mind,

yet does not interfere with their shopping experience.

We thought that if shopping cart handle, which might be laden with various viruses,

can be revamped into a tool for eliminating viruses,

we would not have to require extra inconvenient measures and actions from customers

to give them a sense of security.

So, EMART invents unheard-of shopping cart.

LIGHT SAVER with its design that resembles lightsabers in the movie “Star Wars” and disinfects the hands and cart handles throughout shopping time by emitting germicidal rays that are harmless to human body.

to protect customers from viruses,

without getting in the way of their shopping experience.

According to statistics, shopping cart handle is where customers lay their hands most frequently and for the longest time.

Due to its high-touch nature, recently, customers are increasingly using disinfectants before shopping, spraying and then wiping it off the cart handle.

We thought that if shopping cart handle, which might be laden with various viruses,

can be revamped into a tool for eliminating viruses,

we would not have to require extra inconvenient measures and actions from customers

to give them a sense of security.

Therefore, EMART

decided to create this unheard-of shopping cart

which ensures the safety of the user, other customers, and the entire store

by simply rolling it through the aisles.

The reason why LIGHT SAVER is an innovative novelty

lies within its ground-breaking re-design of traditional shopping carts

by revamping their handles, which carry the highest risk of virus transmission, into ones that eliminate viruses on spot.

In collaboration with an enterprise specializing in the germicidal radiation technology,

we developed a cart handle capable of emitting germicidal rays that are harmless to human body

and attached 300 LIGHT SAVERs to EMART’s existing shopping carts.

One of the EMART stores in the greater Seoul metropolitan area

was selected to launch the campaign on November 19th, 2020.

LIGHT SAVER-loaded carts were placed inside the store throughout the business hours,

prompting customers to utilize the carts on a voluntary basis, without additional guidance.

The launch of the campaign was announced on the official social media accounts of the store and was extensively covered in the media.

According to the measured results,

from the opening to the closing of the store,

numerous customers used shopping carts loaded with LIGHT SAVERs,

and the viral load of cart handles and customers’ hands was reported to have decreased.

In the comparison of the month when COVID-19 caused a drastic decrease in customer turnout and in-store shopping time and the month when the campaign was executed,

the most noticeable outcomes included:

11.6% increase in in-store customers

12.7% increase in each customer’s average purchase amount per visit

25.8% sales increase in EMART stores running the campaign

In this sense, LIGHT SAVER proved to not only mitigate the anxiety of customers

but also boosted the actual sales of EMART.

Also with an increase in brand favorability rating. A high volume of customer requests has been made to expand the coverage of the campaign to include more stores.