From Cashless to Staffless

Are unmanned stores the future of China’s retail industry?

With an increasing number of consumers in China not carrying cash when going shopping, the value of mobile payments has skyrocketed over the past years, reaching $5.2 trillion in 2016. Could it also mean that cashiers are on their way out, becoming a phenomenon of yesteryear?

On July 8, Alibaba Group opened its first cashier-free retail store Tao Cafe in the company’s hometown Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, in the footsteps of the Amazon Go store that made a big debut last year. A long queue of curious customers soon formed.

For customers walking in, purchases are recorded by cameras using facial recognition software, and the system automatically produces bills as soon as they step out of a specially designed gate that can identify them with bio-sensing technology. The trial run is a move that could bolster market confidence in the future of staffless stores.

In fact, Bingobox, a Guangdong-based tech startup, predated Alibaba’s new attempt, opening its trial staffless retail stores in August 2016. So far, Bingobox has 10 such stores in Zhongshan, a city in south China’s Guangdong Province, and Shanghai, absorbing more than 100 million yuan ($14.86 million) in its first round of financing. Its CEO Chen Zilin indicated 200 staffless convenience stores will be launched by the end of this August, and roughly 5,000 stores are