An unstaffed supermarket to open in Zhejiang

An unstaffed supermarket has opened in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, the provincial seat of Zhejiang, with customers scanning their purchases using smartphones and paying with apps like Alipay.

Passengers wait in line to buy goods.

The supermarket is run by Alibaba, in a significant move for the e-commerce giant into bricks-and-mortar retail. Saving on staffing costs, it offers goods at a quarter of the cost of regular stores, according to Alibaba.

A long line formed outside on opening day on Saturday.

(CGTN)