In recent years, the number of single person household has increased and individualism has spread. As a result, ‘Untact Marketing’ which combined two words ‘contact’, ‘un’ began to appear. It means marketing that provides information or service to customers by non-facing and non-contacting. The professor of psychology department in Seoul University said about this marketing. As the stress of human relationship continues to increase, it is becoming a nuisance even for a moment to talk with a shop clerk. How is the untact marketing used?
One of the first issued places with untact marketing is the cosmetic shop ‘Innisfree’. This company, Innisfree realized that customers don’t need employee’s help because most customers, teenagers and twenties come to compare and buy many products on the Internet. So, the company introduced two baskets with the words ‘I need help’ and ‘I’ll try it alone’ so that customers can pick it. Thanks to this system, when customers want to browse various cosmetics alone not to purchase, they can shop lightly with a basket called ‘I’ll try it alone’.
Another example of this untact marketing is McDonald's, Lotteria's kiosk and Starbucks' siren order. Through kiosk, customers can order and buy foods not to stand in line and to mind others. Also, through siren order, they can order from 2 km outside, pay for it and they can only get drinks at the store.
Likewise, this untact marketing has many merits such as psychological stability of consumers, convenience of purchasing and reduction of work intensity, but there are also problems. It can decrease work intensity of employees but systems such as kiosks have replaced employees, they lose their jobs. Furthermore, there has appeared ‘untact divide’ phenomenon which means elderly people who are unfamiliar with the machine are neglected from the digital environment.
As the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution comes and the tendency such as single person household and individualism is increasing, new technologies that pursue only convenience are developed, but the relationship is also becoming more disconnected. Therefore, future technology should be changed to become more person centered.
