Amazon's unmanned shop Amazon Go's entrance
The New York Times article stated that Amazon’s unmanned store, Amazon Go, was formally opened in January this year. In order to avoid being dominated by the e-commerce giant in the physical retail industry, many US retailers and start-up companies are also involved in no one. shop. At the same time, some Chinese companies, including the two major e-commerce giants Alibaba and Jingdong, are experimenting.
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To understand the internals of a store that replaces cashiers with sensors and artificial intelligence, shoppers have to go to Amazon’s experimental convenience store, Amazon Go, in downtown Seattle.
However, it may not be long before more technology-driven stores such as Amazon Go may emerge.
Some of the world’s largest retailers and small-tech start-ups are presenting a global competition around unattended stores. These companies hope to minimize labor costs and eliminate shopper's pain points as much as possible, such as waiting in line for checkouts. They are also trying to prevent Amazon from dominating the physical retail industry as it does in online shopping.
Companies are testing robots that help store shelves, as well as applications that let consumers scan through smartphones to purchase goods. High-tech systems like the Amazon Go system fully automate the checkout process. China, which also has an ambitious e-commerce company, is also becoming a hotbed for these retail experiments.
If they succeed, these new technologies may further increase the uncertainty of retail labor. Due to the booming development of online shopping, retail jobs have been in a state of turmoil. An analysis by the World Economic Forum last year showed that once full-scale adoption of technologies such as automated checkout, there may be 30% to 50% of retail jobs worldwide that are at risk of loss.
One of the self-service checkout machines in Boxer's fresh-baked shoppers can use facial recognition technology to make payments.
In addition, these projects also raise concerns for privacy researchers, because retailers can collect a large amount of data about their consumer behavior in the process of digitizing customers' positions. For example, within Amazon Go, from the moment the customer enters the store, the camera will not be removed from them at all.
Long before Amazon Go appeared, retailers had already adopted various technologies in their stores. For example, self-service checkout desks have become commonplace in supermarkets and other stores in recent years. The grocery chain Kroger uses sensors and predictive analysis tools to better predict when more cashiers need to be placed.
However, Amazon Go officially opened to the public in January last year and is a frightening thing for many retailers. They found that Amazon suddenly became interested in using its technical power in new ways.
Amazon Go arranged hundreds of cameras and sensors near the ceiling and shelves to help automatically record cookies, chips, and sodas that consumers took from the shelves and put them in their bags. As consumers walk out of the store, the system automatically debits their Amazon account.
Amazon is seeking to expand Amazon Go into new areas. The Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the expansion plan, but from the recruitment announcement, the company is recruiting a senior real estate manager whose job is to "sit and buy" and a new Amazon Go store "potentially sited" field trip. .
“The industry generally feels that this is a bit embarrassing, because there is an online retailer showing us how to do a physical store, and to be honest to do very well.” Martin Sickey, chief business officer of robot company Bossa Nova Robotics (Martin Hitch) pointed out. The company’s robotics products are being tested by Wal-Mart and other companies.
Speaking of no-store shopping trials, no country's retailers are more enthusiastic than China. Consumers in the country are very enthusiastic about new types of popular technologies.
One of the projects is a no-man's convenience store from a start-up called Bingo Box, which currently has more than 100 stores, one of which is located in a commercial district in Shanghai. Its operating mechanism is: shoppers use mobile phones to scan the QR code into the store, and then scan the items they want to buy. After the shopper pays through the mobile phone, the store will automatically open the exit door.
Alibaba has opened 35 unlicensed grocery stores called "Box Horse Fresh". The shop combines online ordering and automatic checkout. Customers scan their groceries at the checkout counter and use facial recognition technology for electronic payments. After that, the groceries they order online will be transmitted through the air conveyor belt and sent to the distribution site.
Jingdong, another large e-commerce company in China, is not to be outdone. The company said in December last year that it has reached a cooperation with a developer and will jointly build hundreds of self-owned convenience stores. These stores will automatically place the checkout process by placing readable chips on the merchandise.
In a university in southern Beijing, Jingdong is testing a new store that relies on computer vision technology and on-shelf sensors to learn about the products that are being purchased. The system can track shopping activities without using chip-marked products. In-store payment is accomplished using face recognition technology and is still required at the checkout desk.
Boxma freshman waiter demonstrates how to scan the food code using a smartphone.
Both Jingdong and Alibaba plan to sell their systems to other retailers, while also developing additional checkout techniques.
Back to the United States, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is testing Bossa Nova’s robots in dozens of stores in order to reduce some of the tedious tasks that would take up a lot of staff time. Those robots look like giant roller suitcases. They will walk around to see which shelves have problems with their goods, such as out of stock cereals, toys and other items are mislabeled. Then, the robot will report to the staff, so that the latter to the shelves to replenish the goods and put a new label.
In 120 of the 4,700 US stores in Wal-Mart, customers can also use the smartphone's camera to scan for goods, including fruits and vegetables, and use these devices to pay. When a customer leaves the store, an employee checks their receipts and “checks” the items they purchase.
As one of the largest chain of grocery stores in the United States, Kroger also tests mobile scanning services at its supermarket. It recently announced that the service will expand from its 400 stores to more than 2,700.
New startups are trying to provide retailers with technology to compete with Amazon's systems. One company, AiFi, is developing checkout technology without cashiers. According to it, the technology will be flexible and affordable, making it affordable for small retailers and large retailers. According to data from financial data company Pitchbook, in the United States, the amount of annual investment by venture capitalists for retail automation startups has reached 100 million U.S. dollars in the past two years, an increase from about 64 million U.S. dollars in 2015.
Box horse fresh self-checkout machine. In the United States, retailers such as Wal-Mart and Kroger are also testing similar automation technologies.
“This gives a feeling of gold rushing,” said Alan O'Herlihy, chief executive of Irish company Everseen. The company is working with retailers to create automated checkout technology that uses artificial intelligence.
Although these technologies can improve people's shopping experience, they may also bring about the consequences people do not expect to see. Retailers like Amazon can compile a lot of data about where customers stay in their stores, and Internet companies gather online data to understand how users' online habits are exactly the same.
"In addition, Amazon may also understand all other aspects of your life." Gennie Gebhart, researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online civil liberties organization, said, "Amazon knows I bought some online. What, knowing what I've seen, and now knowing my stay in a shop."
In China, the public does not seem to worry about data privacy issues relatively.
In fact, the retail industry in the United States has experienced wave after wave of store closures, and Macy's, Toys “R” Us, and Sears Department Stores have not been spared. In the future, the loss of jobs in this industry may be more severe, depending on the degree of automation of retailers in the coming years.
Retailers are deliberately diluting the threat of automation technology to employment. As the largest private employer in the United States, Wal-Mart said it expects that automation will not lead to job losses. New technologies will enable employees to spend more time helping customers find the goods they need.
“We think this will help our colleagues,” said John Crecelius, Wal-Mart's vice president of operations. “We are a people-oriented, technology-assisted company.”
Some traditional retailers are also skeptical that automated technologies like Amazon Go can be transferred to large stores. They pointed out that this technology may not be feasible or cost-effective outside of the shops with small floor space and inventory.
“It may not be able to expand to a 120,000-square-foot store,” said Chris Hjelm, Krog’s executive vice president and chief information officer.
But he said that more cameras and sensors are becoming more and more visible in stores, only a matter of time. "A few years later, that kind of technology will become the mainstream of the market."
