Un client chinois utilise son smartphone pour scanner le code QR sur un distributeur automatique pour acheter des crabes poilus au siège de Yiguo nourriture fraîche, un Alibaba
A Chinese customer uses her smartphone to scan the QR code on a vending machine to buy hairy crabs at the headquarters of Yiguo Fresh Food, an Alibaba-backed e-commerce platform that sells fresh food, in downtown Shanghai, China, 27 September 2017. Hairy crabs, one of the most popular delicacies of the season in eastern China, are being sold in a vending machine at an office building in downtown Shanghai. As news spread, eager customers hurried on Thursday (28 September 2017), only to find that the machine, which holds 100 crabs, had run empty by noon. The hairy crabs came from Yangcheng Lake, a freshwater lake in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, that enjoys a reputation as the home of the best crabs, which typically weigh between 100 and 150 grams and sell for 15 yuan ($2.25) each£considered a bargain, as such crabs usually fetch at least 10 yuan more at regular markets, according to an employee who was tending the machine and asked not to be named. Price, however, explains only part of the machine's popularity. The machine, located at the headquarters of Yiguo Fresh Food, an e-commerce platform that sells fresh food in Changning district, is a pilot program launched by Yiguo and Tmall. The customer service department at Tmall said the companies are using the machine to test the market. They might place more machines across the city based on the three-day trial of the machine.