![\"WAL-MART\"](\"https:\/\/www.retailprophet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/pk_wal-mart_ap.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBy Doug Stephens<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Earlier this year while at the National Retail Federation Conference in New York, I listened to Walmart U.S. President Bill Simon talk at length about how retail was still a great career for young people to embark on. \u00a0He reflected on his own career path, and that he put himself through college on the $2.00 an hour he earned as a young man, implying that today\u2019s young retail worker should be able to do the same.\u00a0Mr. Simon shared his firm belief that one could still start on the ground floor at companies like Walmart and work their way up.\u00a0 In fact, he said, it was still entirely possible to start as a cashier and\u00a0ascend to the executive ranks.<\/p>\n
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A little more than a month after Mr. Simon\u2019s talk, however, Walmart announced<\/a><\/strong> that it was adding 10,000 self-checkout lanes in its stores in 2013.\u00a0 Why? Well according to Walmart\u2019s own figures, every second of delay in the checkout aisle amounts to nearly 12 million dollars in cashier payroll.\u00a0 So, time being money and money being everything, self-checkout, they decided, was the clear path forward.\u00a0 And if that weren\u2019t a sharp enough juxtaposition to Mr. Simon\u2019s keynote from a mere month earlier, the retail giant has even more recently announced expansion of the smartphone based self-scan and pay technology that they began testing in 2012, allowing customers to scan items while shopping and pay for everything at self-checkout kiosks by scanning one single barcode.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Because soon there won\u2019t be any cashiers \u2013 and not just cashiers – greeters<\/a><\/b>, merchandisers, inventory counters<\/a> <\/b>and store cleaners<\/a><\/b> too. Technology is poised to replace all of them for two reasons.\u00a0 First, because it can. \u00a0And second because it must. Digital, mobile, virtual and robotic technologies are quickly progressing to the point where they now pose a legitimate threat to anyone whose work is largely repetitive and non-dynamic in nature. And because retailers are increasingly challenged in growing\u00a0top-line\u00a0revenue, there\u2019s little alternative but to substantially slash operating costs \u2013 and people are the easy place to start.<\/p>\n This is hardly a phenomenon exclusive to Walmart. Walmart only tends to be the most visible of battlegrounds.\u00a0 It applies to any retailer in the developed world that currently employs people who don\u2019t add significant and tangible value.\u00a0 Any employee who doesn\u2019t either deliver cost savings, generate revenue or optimize profit will be a moving target for any number of technologies \u2013 robots, apps, kiosks, virtual assistants and more \u2013 and much sooner than we might think.\u00a0 The Hointer<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0denim store in Seattle provides a glimpse of what this people-less retail future might look like and to be honest, it doesn’t look bad.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s that for the first time in about forty years, there\u2019s also a reviving market in retail for truly talented, creative and remarkable people.\u00a0 People whose work adds significant texture, vibrancy and human connection to the retail experience.\u00a0\u00a0 People who are believers in the brand values, super-users of their products and co-creators who love to help their customers imagine and personalize solutions. \u00a0True Brand Ambassadors.<\/p>\n Some retailers already seem to understand this. \u00a0REI, The Container Store, Sephora, Bloomingdales and a handful of others seem to get it.\u00a0 They realize that their people aren\u2019t just a cost item on the P&L but rather the spiritual glue that can make their brands truly sticky and loved.\u00a0 They understand that in a world of commodities, human emotional connection is the intangible value that can and must differentiate them. \u00a0Above all they understand the concepts of highly talented staff and minimum wage are\u00a0oxymoronic.<\/p>\n But spinning yarns about cashiers taking the corner office isn’t going to get us It\u2019s a new industrial revolution and the era of the clerk is over. \u00a0The age of the Brand Ambassador has just begun.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Update: On April 24th, 2013 hundreds of employees of McDonald’s, Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret (among others) walked off the job<\/a><\/strong> in Chicago to protest what they cite as impossibly low wages. \u00a0This follows on the heels of a similar protest among fast-food workers in New York City. \u00a0Also, in early May Walmart launched an externally focussed media campaign aimed at portraying the company as a company that promotes from within. \u00a0You can see it HERE<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Doug Stephens Earlier this year while at the National Retail Federation Conference in New York, I listened to Walmart U.S. President Bill Simon talk at [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,1],"tags":[264,265,266,23,209],"class_list":["post-2644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","category-uncategorized","tag-automation","tag-bill-simon","tag-robotics","tag-trends","tag-walmart"],"yoast_head":"\nThe naked truth is that cashiers won\u2019t become executives.<\/h2>\n
But there\u2019s a bright side.<\/h2>\n
![\"Get](\"https:\/\/www.retailprophet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Get-My-Book.001.jpg\")
<\/a>anywhere. \u00a0This is no longer a debate about the opportunities that do or don’t exist for hard working, underpaid retail workers. Let’s call it what it really is.\u00a0It\u2019s the end of the era in which retail workers are paid to punch buttons, enter\u00a0numbers and count widgets and no amount of nostalgia will reverse that.<\/p>\n