A convenience store in Sweden is open 24 hours a day and has no employees. Customers download an app and register for the service which allows them to unlock the door to the store and are sent a monthly invoice for their purchases. The store features basics like milk, bread, and diapers and doesn't sell tobacco or medical drugs because of the risk of theft. Robert Ilijason, an IT specialist, developed the store after he had to drive over 20 minutes to convenience stores late at night in order to buy baby food and thought that other people who live in rural areas need a store more conveniently located to them. In order to prevent shoplifting, Ilijason has installed six surveillance cameras and he is alerted by text message if the front door stays open for longer than eight seconds.
One major obstacle that Ilijason has faced is getting elderly residents acclimated to the modern technology that the store requires. Ilijason is figuring out ways to make the process easier such as by using a credit card reader to allow shoppers into the store.
The idea of this store with no workers is exciting. It allows a store located in a rural area to be profitable enough to stay in business. However, the idea of stores like this popping up in the United States is troubling. Stores like this would put many people out of work and raise the unemployment rate. It makes me wonder where else technology like this could be used to replace workers and make businesses more profitable. I'm picturing a day where someone walks into McDonald's to use a kiosk that will send an alert back to the kitchen that will use machines to make the food.
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/no-cashier-required-shop-store-you-just-need-phone-n527881
The concept of a store without employees really is fascinating. What I also find intriguing is the effect that cell phones have placed on commerce, as this may not have been possible without cell phones. Besides the age old issue of acclimating senior citizens with technology, this seems to be one that will take off fast depending on the profit of Ilijason. However, with the exception of the cost of developing the app, which I would imagine to be a relatively affordable one time fee, his potential for profit may have no ceiling. I am curious to see if these take off, the change that app developers will begin to make in their prices and even if it their work becomes commission based.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting read. It is amazing how far technology has come. Personally, I do not think that these stores will cause too big of a problem with unemployment. Even though this store does not hire check out clerks, the store still needs someone to do buying, cleaning, and restocking of the store. The store will still need employees for things that cannot be run by an app.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting to think of a store without employees. But I think this kind of store can only be built in certain area, where labor is too expensive for small business to exist. Because, for most parts in the world, wages are not a significant cost in comparison to rental cost, utility cost, and so on. Another problem is: this system would be too expensive for smaller businesses.
ReplyDeleteAs for unemployment, I think this system would certainly have some negative effects, people with low level of skills and education does not have much choice in their career life.
It’s interesting to think of a store without employees. But I think this kind of store can only be built in certain area, where labor is too expensive for small business to exist. Because, for most parts in the world, wages are not a significant cost in comparison to rental cost, utility cost, and so on. Another problem is: this system would be too expensive for smaller businesses.
ReplyDeleteAs for unemployment, I think this system would certainly have some negative effects, people with low level of skills and education does not have much choice in their career life.
WAR OF THE MACHINES!!! But in reality people are becoming increasingly expendable in many fields. This could mean that minimum wage positions are slowly being eliminated increasing the demand for education. Thus we could see growth in fields related, but who knows. Seriously does anyone know?
ReplyDeleteJust like technology possibly taking over human jobs in the financial industry, it also makes sense that this is happening in other human service industries like food and retail. Robert Ilijason's "employee-less" store is something that could workout in the end but there are going to be multiple obstacles that will require overcoming. Security will most likely be hard to work around within this idea as well. Similar to what the article brings up, I believe it is much easier said than done to acclimate everyone (especially people of older age) to the high tech devices performing the sales. Developers of these kind of stores would probably argue this with that fact that much of the population is made up of the baby boomers (older age people), a large portion of the population that is most ignorant to modern technology. Once this portion of the population is gone, majority will most likely be acclimated to everyday technological use. There is definitely a possible future for ideas like this store. Picturing a McDonald's with no workers is scary image. It's interesting to think about where markets/industry jobs will be in the near future while some industries will still more steadily require direct human labor.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting idea that running a store without employees. Personally, I think that this kind of stores, however, would not largely affect the unemployment rate since they are opening in the rural area. As Ilijason said that he came up this idea because of an experience buying baby food in the rural area. Ilijason did not cut any workers for running this store and the idea improved the live quality of people who are living in rural area. I believe that it is viable.
ReplyDeleteThis is a brilliant idea! Not only will this allow stores to operate in rural locations, but it allows stores in rural locations to stay in business as they can keep their labor costs down. However, I wonder what other costs (variable or fixed) are associated with a store of this kind. I also doubt that this will put people out of work as human interaction is very important in the shopping experience. This leads me to believe that in urban or suburban areas, stores with this model would not be very successful.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy to think that it was less than 10 years ago the iPhone came out and now only a phone is required to shop at a store. I think that this is a great idea for products that this store offers such as food but wouldn't work in all industries. I agree with Jake, it is defiantly concerning to see places like McDonalds integrate something like this since it will potentially create more unemployment. Hopefully, this will encourage people to get jobs that are not replaceable by machines.
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