Are you being served? Man vs machine
Print Edition
With self-service stores on the rise, those with both human assistants and machines will likely be the future, rather than complete automation, the China Vending & Smart Retailing Show heard yesterday.
“Unattended shops and vending machines are mushrooming across China thanks to technological advances,” Jerry Huang, a partner with global consultancy Kantar, said at the show at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in Pudong.
“However, shops combining human and mechanical forces will be the favored model as consumers still need help when shopping, and shops need human beings to see what really matters to consumers.”
The market value of unmanned retail, including unattended shops and vending machines, hit 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in 2018, and will continue to grow fast this year, Huang said.
“Even if you favor assistant-free shops, you need people to decide what to put in the shops,” said Zhou Qi, CEO of Vingoo, a self-service juice machine provider.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
