“Unmanned is not commerce, but tech”… In the era of 1 million self-employed business closures, CEO Woo Seung-cheol’s contrarian thinking

▤ Summary

This article profiles iStar and CEO Woo Seung-cheol, who built an unmanned retail business around logistics, standardized operations, and a fully automated consignment model. The company runs more than 210 unmanned stores and supports them with a B2B distribution platform and its own delivery network. Woo argues that logistics matters more than visible automation hardware and that unmanned retail succeeds only when inventory, supply, and store operations stay tightly controlled. The company is also preparing age-verification tobacco and alcohol vending machines, which could expand its smart retail model if regulations loosen.

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