The future of retail
AMAZON Go Stores and Alibaba’s Hema Supermarkets provide us with a vision of how retail would look like in the future. Well, not really a vision since that future has already arrived.
Amazon Go is just like any other modern retail stores you go into, except that it isn’t like any other retail store. There are no cashiers, no cash registers, which also means no long checkout queues. Hundreds of cameras, sophisticated sensors, and artificial intelligence technology allow customers to simply walk in look around, shop, and leave.
You download an app and sign in to your Amazon account before you enter. The technology is so advanced “it” knows which items have been taken from the shelves and charge it appropriately to your account. It even has weight sensors to determine when you have changed your mind and returned an item.
And when you are done, you just walk out of the door without worrying about security detectors blaring you into public humiliation. That’s because checkout is automatic once you are “sensed” to have left the store. You are then billed through your credit card and the app sends you a receipt of your purchases. As CNN Business writer Matt McFarland experienced, it even sends you data like how long you shopped inside the store (read his article here: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/03/tech/amazon-go/index.html).
By 2021, Amazon has been reported to be planning to open 3,000 Go Stores. These futuristic stores are similar to what I saw when I visited China early this year and got exposed to what Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma called “new retail.” Alibaba has been at the forefront of creating the future of the retail world, at the same time exhibiting a sensitivity to people’s habits and attitudes.
Instead of shocking people with totally unfamiliar technology, Alibaba, through its Hema Supermarket chain, merges online shopping technology and hardcore traditional shopping experience.
While shopping online has increased tremendously worldwide, there are still areas in Asia — like the Philippines — where it has not yet been a big hit among consumers. Part of the reason is that people in general find it difficult to let go of old habits in favor of technologydriven, faceless online shopping experience. Another issue is the fact that only a small portion of our population have credit cards.
Filipinos complain about it but we love the exhilaration of Christmas shopping. The physical act of going to a store, picking the items you want and buying gifts for loved ones is a revered tradition. Notwithstanding the traffic, stress, and long queues.
At Alibaba’s Hema Supermarkets all products have QR codes that can be scanned using their app that will show the shopper all relevant information — product origin, reviews, recipes, and related products you could be interested in. It’s like shopping online inside a store.
This is the future of retail. One that combines the physical act of buying inside a store and sophisticated technology to make shopping convenient. Is the Philippines ready to jump in? Maybe not in the immediate future.
Buying online is still an emerging area in the retail industry. Pinoys still want to see a store, walk into it, see the products, ask an actual store employee, and hand their money to a cashier. For example, those who shop for food may not be comfortable making their choices of what to pick without actually inspecting the food item.
But it is important to understand how retail is changing around the world. I am very fascinated about the prospects of how technology is transforming businesses and our lives, in general. It’s going to take some time but I think the future of retail will arrive here in the Philippines and we have to be ready.