Retail robot stars to boost sales
A robotics manufacturer’s aim is to make it feel normal for you to ask a robot customer services questions and for the humanoid to close the sale. By Sarah Halzack.
As soon as you approach Pepper, a robot, she sizes you up. Thanks to facial recognition capabilities, Pepper determines your likely gender and age. And as you ask her questions, she draws from cloud-based information to give what she thinks are relevant answers. If you smile, she can tell that you’re finding her answers helpful. If you don’t, she might ask you if she’s misunderstanding your requests.
Pepper’s maker, Softbank Robotics, has a vision in which many retailers incorporate this technology into brick-and-mortar stores, in which it feels normal and reflexive for you to approach a robot with customer service questions. It’s part of a wider push across the retail industry to bring more automation and data science to one of the few parts of the business that largely remains an art: The act of making a sale.
At the National Retail Federation’s Big Show, demonstrations abounded of technology that could assist a store employee close the deal – or answer the questions sales assistants might typically help with. These innovations tantalise retailers, who can ill afford to lose any opportunity to satisfy or upsell a customer when mall foot traffic is tumbling. But the advances also raise questions about what the future retail workforce will look like if tasks can soon be punted to robots or tablet applications.
When you first encounter Pepper, it’s hard not to be struck by the novelty of the situation: You’re being chatted up by something that looks part anime cartoon, part Star Wars
These innovations tantalise retailers, who can ill afford to lose any opportunity to satisfy or upsell a customer when mall foot traffic is tumbling.
stormtrooper. And yet the interaction feels strangely familiar, because of how uncannily humanoid her gestures are. From the way she cocks her head when asking a question to the way her fingers curl up when she draws her hands to her hips, it all feels very integrated.
Because of that, ‘‘one of the challenges we have from a marketing perspective is managing your expectations of what a robot like this can do,’’ said Steve Carlin, vice-president at Softbank Robotics. In other words, people start asking Pepper questions that, for now, are out of her depth.
Demonstrators offered several possible use cases for Pepper: Retailers could position her in a specialty department, where she could answer questions about featured products. Or she could help identify which shoes you’d like based on your priorities. On a budget? She’ll steer you toward the cheapest pair. Like to be comfortable? She’ll suggest a functional pair of sneakers.
After being used at Softbank Mobile stores in Japan for several years, Pepper made her debut in the United States market in November, launching at two Westfield Malls in California. In that iteration, she gives shoppers directions to certain stores.
Don’t expect to see an army of Peppers right away: Softbank doesn’t want to deploy the technology too widely until it has built out more logistics. Plus, they haven’t come close to unlocking Pepper’s full capabilities.
Think, for example, about how you initially came to understand the smartphone’s power: it was largely thanks to apps.
Retailers may be more apt to get on the bandwagon when they can see more use cases. So might hotels, cruise ships and airports.
Pepper’s makers say that they don’t think she’ll replace human workers. Rather, they see it as a supplement. While Pepper is answering simple questions such as, ‘‘Where’s the toilet?,’’ the theory is that a sales associate can be handling complex tasks like helping you find jeans in your size.
The idea of technology as a support system for a sales assistant could be seen at other displays during NRF’S trade show. Toshiba, for example, showed off something it calls Lift ‘n Learn. When a shopper lifts an item off a shelf, more information about that product comes up on a screen. Other customer actions can send a notification to a sales associate that someone is interacting with a display, providing an opportunity for an employee to swoop in.
There are other cases where a worker wouldn’t have to step in at all. Philips Lighting demonstrated a technology called visible light communications, or VLC, in which store lighting can be used to pinpoint your precise positioning within an aisle. If you’re hovering around the flu medicine in a pharmacy, maybe the retailer’s app could also nudge you to also buy tissues and cough drops.
None of these technologies threatens to completely replace sales associates. But collectively, they might either chip away at those kinds of roles, or alter the skills needed. Either way, it suggests we’re on the cusp of major change in what it means to be on the front lines at the mall, a big-box store or a supermarket. – Washington Post