A store without salespeople: what does the future hold?

Lately, we have been seeing more and more headlines on the Internet or in the media such as: "What professions will disappear in 5/10/30 years?". If you read these articles carefully, you can conclude that the world will soon no longer need the professions of a machinist, stenographer, translator, or cashier. Naturally, given the economic development of our country, we should not be afraid of this in the next hundred years. However, there are countries that will cross the line of 100% automation literally tomorrow. One of the most developed countries is China.

The first unmanned Chinese store - Jing dong Mall

May 2018 marks the opening of the world's first round-the-clock supermarket that does not employ a single person. This miracle store is located 100 km southwest of Beijing. The supermarket area is 246 square meters with a staff of 0 employees. Visitors choose the goods they want and go to the checkout to pay for them. A face recognition system is installed there. Payment in this way takes only a few seconds and does not delay the queue for long. In addition to paying at the checkout, customers are provided with information about all current discounts and promotional offers.

The first JD.com store was opened in Shanghai, China, back in 2017. Over the next 10 months, the company built 10 more stores across China. According to the promise of Jing dong Mall CEO Liu Guangdong, by the beginning of 2020, the company will be able to open 1000 such stores every day. Moreover, not only big cities but also rural areas will be automated.

In August 2018, Jing dong Mall opened the first unmanned store in Indochina. It was located in Jakarta. Based on China's close ties with Southeast Asia, all the latest technologies will smoothly cover neighboring countries.

Unmanned stores for a civilized society

This massive spread of unmanned stores can be called a step towards the virtualization of China. This is a truly amazing country. People of all generations use their smartphones to find goods and even pay for the purchase. This rapid level of automation can be explained from a demographic point of view. China is experiencing a significant decline in the birth rate, and the nation is aging. The need for qualified personnel is growing from year to year, while the demand for blue-collar jobs is decreasing.

The rise in living standards has led to more and more people refusing to take low-paying jobs.

This was the impetus for the emergence of unmanned stores. This step was initiated by the Chinese government, like most scientific and technological implementations. President Xi Jinping is trying to build a society with an average standard of living "Xiaokan" by 2020.

JD.com's main competition is Tencent and Alibaba

The main pressure and competition comes from the leaders of the Chinese market - Tencent and Alibaba. However, no other company can reach the level that Liu Guangdong's company has achieved thanks to JD.com's close ties with commodity producers. In the winter of 2018, the founder of the world-famous WeChat company Tencent announced the opening of an unmanned We Life store in Shanghai. This store has the WeChat Pay payment system installed. To pay, you just need to scan the QR code with the payment program. At the entrance to the store, you need to scan the QR code with the WeChat application to receive a receipt for the selected purchases at the checkout. At the entrance to the store, there is a small room to scan your WeChat-id and the QR code of the items you want to buy. All products also have a code that customers need to scan. While scanning, you can see detailed information about the product. Before leaving the store, you need to scan all the products again, the total amount is deducted automatically and will be withdrawn from your wallet.

Every day, more than 30,000 customers visit the unmanned store, and this number is constantly growing. Almost all companies in Hangzhou whose stores were opened this year operate on this principle. Unmanned stores operate on the basis of the Alipay payment system. The purchase and payment methodology is similar in all supermarkets, only the payment system differs.

Opening an import store in China

In addition to domestic stores, foreign unmanned supermarkets are opening in China. In 2017, a Swedish drone was opened on the territory of Hebei University of Technology in Anhui Province.

The store operates on the same principle as the Chinese ones. However, there is one difference. It is constantly moving! This unmanned store is located on wheels. You can determine its location using the app. The van moves along the same route. When a product on the counter runs out, the sensors are triggered and the truck is sent to the warehouse to replenish its assortment.

It's not a bad idea, but there are drawbacks. It is inferior to Chinese unmanned supermarkets in terms of volume, which is why it loses. However, such a store does exist.

Chinese unmanned stores entering the global market

Also, we should not forget about the opening of the first unmanned store in the United States in 2016 by one of the American monopolists, Amazon. It should be reminded that until the beginning of 2018, the store was a corporate one and only this year it began to serve everyone.

Based on this, we can conclude that the development of China and America is practically at the same level. 2018 is the year of unmanned stores.

Analyzing the activities of China's leading companies and government support, the race for new technologies between China and the United States will only accelerate.