An unmanned store is a retail concept in which there are no service personnel and no cashiers in the store. The transactions are handled through a mobile application. Unlike an automated convenience store, the unmanned store concept relies on smartphone-related technologies and artificial intelligence to remove the traditional features of a store.
In 2012, the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group published a paper on the unmanned store possibilities enabled by the recent rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets. [1] In 2014, the company ShelfX developed the first version of unmanned stores. Customers could swipe their cards on their phones to pay in the store and go without checking out at the cashier. In February 2016, the first unmanned store of Sweden opened in Viken. [2] [3]
In December 2016, Amazon announced the launch of unmanned store "Amazon Go" and began research and development. Until January 22, 2018, it officially opened in Seattle, Washington, and opened up general consumer experience and purchase. [4] On May 7, 2019, Amazon announced that it will open its first unmanned store, Amazon Go, in New York. The address is located on the second floor of Brookfield Plaza Shopping Center in New York City. [5] [6]
While Amazon first announced the release of unmanned stores in the US, China started to compete with the USA in the adoption and growth of domestic unmanned stores. [7] [8] Taobao launched the "Tao Cafe" pop-up unmanned store in Hangzhou in July 2017. Alibaba opened an unmanned experience store in January 2018. Other Chinese retail giants such as Jingdong and WeChat also opened unmanned flash Stores. [9] Japan's Lawson announced in December 2017 that it will introduce unmanned stores this year. The Signature concept store in South Korea opened on May 16 on the 31st floor of Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in Seoul. [10] On January 29, 2018, Taiwan also launched 7-11's first unmanned store X-STORE. [11] By 2017, an estimated 200 unmanned stores had opened in China. [12]
As soon as 2018, the unmanned store bubble started to pop in China, with many stores closing and facing bankruptcy. The online retailer JD.com had announced 5,000 virtual shelves in July 2018, but retracted from this engagement 6 months later. [12] One reason for the rapid downfall of unmanned stores is the failure of the pioneering stores to create an authentic "just-walk-out" experience, which killed the convenience of shopping there. While the focus was on technology, many stores neglected the customer experience aspect of their shops. [13]
Unmanned stores are completely self-serve and self-checkout, and there are no waiting lines at the cashier. The registering of bought products and their payments are done with a mobile application.
The ceiling of the entire store is equipped with artificial intelligence camera system and machine algorithms. From the moment the customer enters the store, the camera will record the customer's moving route, browse the product, take, view the label or return the product. Wait for the action, and then send the image to the machine for image recognition. As long as the customer picks up a certain item, it will automatically be added to the virtual shopping cart in the APP. If the customer does not want to purchase the product and put it back on the shelf, the virtual shopping cart in the APP will also be automatically deleted. In the end, when customers choose their products, they do not have to wait in line for checkout. Because there is no checkout counter in the store, customers just need to walk directly out of the door of the store. [4] There is also potential for political controversy, as it has been suggested that some of these stores do not automate jobs but essentially relocate them to overseas centers. [14]
A convenience store, bodega, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as tea, coffee, groceries, fruits, vegetables, snacks, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines. In some jurisdictions, convenience stores are licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, although many jurisdictions limit such beverages to those with relatively low alcohol content, like beer and wine. The stores may also offer money order and wire transfer services, along with the use of a fax machine or photocopier for a small per-copy cost. Some also sell tickets or recharge smart cards, e.g. OPUS cards in Montreal or include a small deli. They differ from general stores and village shops in that they are not in a rural location and are used as a convenient supplement to larger stores.
Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.
The FamilyMart Company, Ltd. is a Japanese convenience store franchise chain. It is Japan's second largest convenience store chain, behind Seven-Eleven Japan. There are now 24,574 stores worldwide in Japan, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Its headquarters is on the 17th floor of the Sunshine 60 building in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo. There were some stores in Japan with the name Circle K Sunkus under the operation of FamilyMart.
Self-checkouts (SCOs), also known as assisted checkouts (ACOs) or self-service checkouts, are machines that provide a mechanism for customers to complete their own transaction from a retailer without needing a traditional staffed checkout. When using SCOs, customers scan item barcodes before paying for their total shop without needing one-to-one staff assistance. Self-checkouts are used mainly in supermarkets, although they are not uncommon in department or convenience stores. Most self-checkout areas are supervised by at least one staff member, often assisting customers process transactions, correcting prices, or otherwise providing service.
Yodobashi Camera Co., Ltd. is a major Japanese retail chain specializing in electronics, PCs, cameras and photographic equipment.
Suning.com Co., Ltd., formerly Suning Commerce Group Co., Ltd., is one of the largest non-government retailers in China, headquartered in Nanjing, Jiangsu. Suning has more than 10,000 stores nationwide and its e-commerce platform, Suning.com ranks among top three Chinese B2C companies. The operation categories include physical merchandise, such as home appliances, 3C products, books, general merchandise, household commodities, cosmetics and baby care products, content products and service merchandise with the total number of SKU exceeding 3 million. It was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2004. In 2021, Suning.com ranked at 328th on the Fortune Global 500 list.
Amazon Fresh is a subsidiary of the American e-commerce company Amazon in Seattle, Washington. It is a grocery retailer with physical stores and delivery services in most major U.S. cities, as well as some international cities, such as Berlin, Hamburg, London, Milan, Munich, Rome, Tokyo, and some other locations in Singapore and India.
85 °C Bakery Cafe, also brand-named 85 Cafe, 85 °C Daily Cafe, or 85 Degrees C, is a Taiwanese international chain of retailers selling coffee, tea, and cakes, as well as desserts, smoothies, fruit juices, souvenirs, and bakery products. It has 1000 retail shops worldwide. The chain's parent company is located in the Cayman Islands.
Automated retail is the category of self-service, standalone kiosks that operate as fully automatic retail stores through the use of software integrations to replace the traditional retail services inside in a traditional retail store. These standalone kiosks are often located in heavily trafficked locations such as airports, malls, resorts and transit hubs.
A retail clerk, also known as a sales clerk, shop clerk, retail associate, or shop assistant, sales assistant or customer service assistant, is a service role in a retail business.
Żabka Polska is a chain of convenience stores in Poland. There are at least 9,000 manned and unmanned stores across Poland, including at least 500 in Warsaw and over 340 in the Tricity area, as of December 2023. Some Żabka stores are located in the Czech Republic and owned by the Czech branch of the UK retail giant Tesco plc. The retail turnover was about €650 million in 2010. As of 2022, Żabka has more than 15.5 million customers.
Consignment store is a transformation of flea market, which sets up many transparent boxes in a small shop for people to rent and sell their products. The renters can also treat the boxes as showrooms and display their products or artworks there. This kind of shop was originated in Japan and the concept spread in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau between 2000 and 2005. However, the business environment of consignment shop had deteriorated since 2010.
Amazon Go is a chain of convenience stores in the United States and the United Kingdom, operated by the online retailer Amazon. The stores are cashierless, thus partially automated, with customers able to purchase products without being checked out by a cashier or using a self-checkout station. As of 2023, there are 43 open and announced store locations in Seattle, Chicago, London and New York City.
An automated convenience store is a convenience store that operates without a cashier, and instead relies on computers and robotics.
Robomart is an American technology company headquartered in Santa Monica, California that builds autonomous smart shops for cafes, ice cream parlors, and quick-service restaurants. The company’s white label platform gives retailers the option to expand their footprint at a significantly lower cost than traditional brick-and-mortar real-estate.
Cheap Lab is a retail chain of stationery and household goods in Hong Kong, founded in 2014. The company operates ten stores in Hong Kong as of 2018.
Steve Gu is an entrepreneur, computer vision scientist, author and the Co-founder and CEO of AiFi, an AI technology company providing autonomous store technology for retailers and brands, recognized as an Amazon Go rival by Fortune and CNBC. Gu has his PhD from Duke University in computer science, advised by Carlo Tomasi.
Caper is a software technology company that develops and deploys AI-powered automated checkout devices as well as AI-based software applications for retailers, grocers, convenience stores and other general merchandising store formats. Caper AI was established in 2016 by Lindon Gao, York Yang, Yilin Huang and Ahmed Beshry. It is headquartered in Manhattan, NY.
A cashierless store is a store which allows customers to shop their products and leave without having to wait in line and pay at a checkout. There are four phases when purchasing from a cashierless store: the before-purchase phase, the check-in phase, the product selection phase, and the check-out phase. Each cashierless store utilizes different combinations of technology within these phases. However, generally cashierless stores use sensor fusion and deep learning for computer vision to keep track of customers and products. Existing cashierless stores can currently be found in the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Trigo is a computer vision technology company founded by Michael and Daniel Gabay in 2018. Trigo provides a cashierless shopping solution for grocery retailers to implement partially or fully automated stores.