Where in retail do you actually prefer to interact with humans?
7-11, terrified, clings to the hope that Amazon Go never sells cigarettes.
This week Amazon launched their first Amazon Go store in Seattle, an automated convenience store that watches what you pick up, and automatically charges you as you leave.
But the technology that is also inside, mostly tucked away out of sight, enables a shopping experience like no other. There are no cashiers or registers anywhere. Shoppers leave the store through those same gates, without pausing to pull out a credit card. Their Amazon account automatically gets charged for what they take out the door.
Later in the article Amazon says that eliminating cashiers frees up humans to do other less-automated tasks, like restocking or performing customer service, which, sure. But for most, this store will be no different than a giant walk-in vending machine.
I think of how rarely today, compared to decades past, that I need to interact with humans for basic tasks. I can buy a tank of gas without interacting with anyone. I haven’t been inside a bank in years. Movie theaters are down to ticket-tearers and pop-corn poppers, who surely won’t be around much longer. I’m totally fine with self-checkout at grocery stores or in Amazon’s new convenience store concept. And I actively tense up at the approach of an employee in the rare instances I browse a physical clothing store vs buying online. Bartenders, though — take away my favorite local bartender and my life would be poorer for it.
What retail scenarios (if any) would you still rather deal with people vs automation?*
(*Automated customer service lines don’t count. Everyone hates those.)