By Wang Zitao in Shanghai

China News Service Hologram-like virtual elevator buttons in the office buildings at the Shanghai Shibei Hi-tech Park, contactless food pickup boxes at the Caohejing Hi-tech Park, and smart self-service package pickup stations in communities... Amid the COVID-19 epidemic, more contactless services have been emerging in Shanghai. These services that rely on artificial intelligence, big data and other new technologies allow us to see the huge potential brought by the integration of online technologies and offline scenarios. Hua Yuan, director of the Shanghai Commission of Commerce, said recently that to promote the rapid development of emerging consumption, it is necessary to empower physical commerce through digitalization and vigorously develop the “online economy,” “delivery-to-home economy” and “contactless economy.” Shanghai’s newly released “Measures to Boost Consumer Confidence and Unleash Consumer Demand” proposed to promote community-based self-service package pickup points and smart pickup stations, while encouraging online platforms to carry out “worry-free consumption campaigns.” So far, Shanghai has built 30,000 sets of smart package pickup stations. During the epidemic, shared shelves were installed in more than 1,600 communities. On top of those, Shanghai will continue to accelerate the deployment of various smart retail terminals such as smart vending machines, unmanned vending machines, smart micro wet markets, smart food pickup boxes and smart recycling stations. An executive at Meituan, who actively promotes “contactless delivery” in Shanghai, told China News Service that although the “contactless delivery” service emerged in the epidemic, it has value for long-term implementation. For example, as food delivery returns to normalcy, when users are unable to pick up meals due to various reasons, they are encouraged to choose contactless delivery. And the cards, which carried health information of delivery staff and were given to buyers together with foods during the epidemic, will likely remain, but the contents will be replaced by other safety information. For contactless services, Shanghai’s hospitality industry also took innovative approaches. The unmanned intelligent temperature measurement at the door of the hotel and the contactless self-check-in at the front desk have been adopted in many hotels. On top of this, Metropolo Jinjiang Hotels has launched other contactless services, such as allowing guests to control the TV via their smartphones or scanning the QR code to ask for housekeeping. In guestrooms, guests can scan the QR code on the TV with their smartphones to select channels, play videos on-demand and require room services. They can also scan the QR code on the disinfection information card to know how the rooms are disinfected. Zan Lin, CEO of Metropolo Jinjiang Hotels, said that contactless and intelligent services not only provide customers with worry-free experience, but also accelerate the digital transformation of its hotels, making them more resilient in the market competition. People have different opinions on whether “contactless services” come from the epidemic or are needed in the consumer market. Economist Song Qinghui said that “contactless services” are not necessarily what the consumer market must have, because people are social “animals,” so they prefer face-to-face services over contactless services. “Contactless services will increase labor costs because operation, maintenance, marketing and disinfection still require manual work. In the long run, overall costs of contactless services, such as those for developing and deploying back-end technology and hardware, are even higher than those of contact services,” said Song. Zhao Gaohui, a professor at the School of Humanities of Donghua University and deputy director of the Research Center for Fashion Communication at Donghua University, said that there are currently two main types of contactless services. In one setting, products are put in certain places for consumers to pick them up. In the other setting, smart devices are used to replace humans to provide services. For merchants, the advantages in both settings outweigh the disadvantages. In the first setting, there is almost no additional cost. In the second setting, there will be additional costs, but at the same time, merchants also own a smart platform to promote themselves. “After the epidemic is over, whether the related industries can continue this model depends on whether merchants really have a substantial return on the use of this service, such as lower costs and improved customer retention due to better user satisfaction,” said Zhao. If there is an increase on the return, part of it can be given back to consumers, thus allowing them to get the benefits to offset the additional “costs.” If the above-mentioned win-win model is not achieved, then the future of this new model still needs to be discussed.