![]() ![]() Early adopters may have thought of unmanned retail as an investment in reducing overhead, with fewer employees, and while this is true to a certain extent, what they’re really investing in is the customer experience.īy making it easier for customers to get what they want, when they want it and without having to wait in line, unmanned stores increase convenience. ![]() An unmanned store may not have cashiers, but someone still has to put special labels on the items that will be read by the automated system, and it still takes people to restock shelves and keep the place clean and inviting. We think one of the reasons why unmanned stores have grown more slowly than expected comes down to perception, since retailer expectations about the potential cost savings may have been misplaced. A store that promises fewer person-to-person transactions and more social distancing is something to consider these days, and unmanned stores can deliver on that promise. We’re also seeing that the COVID-19 pandemic has people rethinking how they shop and that’s likely to increase demand for unmanned retail. We don’t think so, since we’re actively working with customers, like Neste in Finland, who are ramping up unmanned stores. A number of newly opened stores subsequently closed, as operators struggled to find the sweet spot between necessary process and complete automation, and growth in certain regions has been more sluggish than expected. There was, indeed, a flurry of store openings early on but the trend has slowed somewhat. Reality was a little different from the predictions. At the time, ABI predicted that the total number of stores would grow from 393 in 2019 to 44,138 in 2023 globally. ![]() In 2018, for example, ABI Research noted that a number of eCommerce giants, including Alibaba, Suning and JD.com in China, along with Amazon in the United States, were investing in unmanned stores. Unmanned stores were expected to be the “next big thing” in retail technology. You would just walk into a store, select your items, and walk out-the in-store technology would know what you’d chosen and charge your account. Retailers were going to use technology to eliminate cashiers and create a more frictionless, seamless shopping experience. You may recall how, a few years ago, there was significant interest regarding unmanned stores. ![]()
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