design:retail - January 2018 - 10

globalshop talk

010

Should Cashiers
Go Away?

DOUG HOPE
FOUNDER AND SHOW DIRECTOR, GLOBALSHOP

doug.hope@emeraldexpo.com
@globalshopshow

A

NYONE WHO WORKS in the
retail industry, like you, our
reader, has likely had a conversation that starts with a
sigh, an eyeroll and this: "No
wonder everyone is shopping
online: anytime you go into a retail store, there
is no one to help you, and then you have to wait
forever to check out. It feels like customer service
has vanished."
Your first response might be to correct the notion that "everyone" is shopping online when in fact
far less than 10 percent of all retail sales are online
today (even 25 years after the advent of Amazon).
The rest of the conversation could be muddled by
an explanation of how retail is in a significant transitional period, infrastructure challenges and future
innovation. But truth be told, the observation of shoppers unable to find adequate help on the floor while
tolerating longer queues at the cash register is spot on.
Wall Street can be blamed for some of the margin
squeeze that has resulted in a thinner workforce
on the floor, but the solution may be eliminating
cashiers and point-of-sale as we know it. Putting
resources where they are needed (on the sales floor)
instead of where they are not needed (at the point

GlobalShop 2018
March 27-29
Sponsored by Shop!
In cooperation with IIDA

Chicago | McCormick Place
globalshop.org
CONTACT US:
1145 Sanctuary Pkwy., Ste. 355
Alpharetta, GA 30009-4772

JANUARY 2018

DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

of sale) could be a strategic repurposing of store
personnel that significantly alters and improves the
shopper experience.
About a year ago, the Amazon Go concept shook
the retail world, and although the Go store is an
employee-only retail space (for now), it nonetheless
broke new ground with novel new thinking about
the most painful point in the shopping journey: the
check-out. Were it not for its acquisition of Whole
Foods Market later in 2017, Amazon Go probably
would have been the biggest retail news out of
Amazon last year.

SHOW STAFF:
→ Founder and Show Director Doug
Hope (770) 291-5453 doug.hope@
emeraldexpo.com → Associate Show
Director Heather Kuznetz
(770) 291-5512 heather.kuznetz@
emeraldexpo.com → Senior Account
Executive Kerry Tyler (770) 291-5432
kerry.tyler@emeraldexpo.com →
Account Executive Donna McKerrow
(770) 291-5506 donna.mckerrow@
emeraldexpo.com

GLOBALSHOP.ORG

A number of technologies, hardware, software, apps and payment systems exist that
enable cashier-free shopping. Apple, Walmart and
Sam's Club are among retailers that have taken the
plunge, and although some question whether
shoppers will adopt the no-cashier model, reviews
from those who have are five-star perfect, even
though current systems require more shoppergenerated scanning than newer solutions offer.
What would the front-end of stores look like
without cashiers? How would impulse items
be queued up when there isn't a traditional
cashwrap? What would an optimal inventory
control/security solution look like? And how
quickly could you react to a retail competitor who
implements cashier-free shopping?
These are questions that may be on your mind, and
the answers may very well be a 2018 requirement.
GlobalShop is moving toward answering these challenges and opportunities. Learn more about that at
the March 2018 show (March 27-29) in Chicago.

→ Marketing Director Vanessa Ruiz
(770) 291-5502 vanessa.ruiz@emerald
expo.com → Conference Manager Toni
Ward (770) 291-5441 antoinette.ward@
emerald expo.com → Senior Operations
Manager Derrick Nelloms (770) 291-5452
derrick.nelloms@emeraldexpo.com →
Executive Vice President Joe Randall
joe.randall@emeraldexpo.com

EMERALD EXPOSITIONS:
→ CEO and President David Loechner
→ CFO and Treasurer Philip Evans →
Chief Information Officer Bill Charles →
Senior Vice President, General Counsel
and Secretary David Gosling → Senior
Vice President, Operations Lori Jenks
→ Senior Vice President, Marketing
Operations Joanne Wheatley →
Vice President, Human Resources
Eileen Deady → Vice President,
Corporate Operations Denise Bashem

Illustration by FAITHIE/SHUTTERSTOCK
http://www.expo.com http://www.globalshop.org http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM http://www.GLOBALSHOP.ORG
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - January 2018
