Uses of AI and automation technologies in the retail sector: benefits and challenges Just as cashless payment systems offer security for firms against theft and error, these advantages also hold for workers in stores – as some workers find handling cash and calculating change stressful and accusations of mistakes or theft are a common point of contention with management. On the other hand, contactless payments contribute to the proliferation of self-checkout systems. The growing use of self-checkouts threaten checkout staff roles and also the ability for staff to rotate roles in order to ensure a level of variety in their work. The expansion in self-checkouts and related technologies are further enabling the development of ›staffless‹ stores that can be operated with very few em­ployees. Such stores raise concerns about the potential loss of jobs through automation, but also potentially enable the opening of stores in remote and sparsely populated areas. New digital credit players are a major boost to both in-store commerce and retail, and close partnership with financial institutions alongside the rise of dedicated retail-based fi­nanciers(e.g. Klarna, ClearPay) has significantly facilitated the ongoing sales growth of the sector. As one participant commented»today, e-commerce wouldn’t exist without the possibility of electronic payments, which are in many cases supported by financing possibilities in the shape of low-interest credit and monthly instalments«. Such systems increase convenience for consumers but can encourage overconsumption and indebtedness, particularly among economically disadvantaged groups, and especially when combined with the kinds of sophisticated marketing systems outlined in section 2.7. 2.3 ORDERING, INVENTORY AND STOCK REPLENISHMENT robots remain some time away from mass deployment, ware­houses and logistics centres serving both bricks-and-mortar stores and e-commerce fulfilment are increasingly subject to robotic automation. For instance, Ocado – a pioneer in the field of automated warehousing – recently completed its transition from a food retailer to a high-technology firm by licensing its smart warehousing platform to Casino group. 18 However, warehouse and logistics staff numbers in its ro­botised fulfilment centres remain substantial – not only in technical roles but also in low-wage picking jobs. 19 Furthermore, while grocery warehouses lend themselves to the deployment of large-scale automated systems, in high­er-value and lower-throughput sectors like furniture and consumer electronics retail, demand for such technologies is likely to remain lower – even as cost reductions facilitate more widespread access to automation. Automated consum­er-facing re-ordering systems(such as Amazon’s Subscribe& Save) do pose some threat of technological unemployment for sales and checkout workers, but such applications ac­count for only a tiny minority of overall purchases at present and seem unlikely to become widespread in the near future. On the other hand, automated inventory and ordering systems reduce the need for workers to engage in less desirable tasks, such as time-consuming inventories. This has the potential to free up workers’ time to perform more highly-skilled sales tasks closer to the customer, although this would require employers to invest in skills. While these systems reduce the time taken for staff to perform stock taking manually they are not perfect and can require not insubstantial numbers of staff to scan items to ensure the system is working correctly. Automated inventory management systems comprise technologies which can digitally monitor and check stock/ inventory, analyse sales data, and automatically place replen­ishment orders. Data on inventory can be gathered from a range of sources such as RFID tags, weighing scales, and image recognition from cameras and scanners. This can then be algorithmically processed and analysed to varying levels of success. Benefits for firms include: more rapid unloading and sorting in warehouses, error and labour reductions in stock checking, more efficient shelf-stacking and picking for home delivery, forecasting demand, optimise efficiency in labour scheduling, and enhance logistical efficiencies and automated re-ordering. For consumers, digitalised inventory systems can increase product range, availability and information on stock, in­cluding lead and expected delivery times. Such systems are increasingly widespread in medium- to large-scale retailers, for whom they offer both reduced labour costs and en­hance just-in-time throughput of products. Digital logistics platforms offering inventory and supply chain management services for incoming inventory and e-commerce sales are increasingly opening up the field to smaller firms. For workers, the effects of such systems are ambiguous. Although cost and competence issues mean shelf-stacking Use of automated inventory, ordering and stock replenish­ment systems require staff working with them to develop skills in navigating digital logistics systems. Workers often find themselves using handheld terminals or smartphones to access logistics data and product details in response to customer queries. However, information is increasingly also being shared directly with consumers via the web and smartphone apps. This threatens to undermine the privileged access to information once possessed by retail workers and reduce their role as intermediator between consumer and producer. Increasing supply chain and throughput efficiency via auto­mated inventory management holds the potential to reduce carbon footprints, particularly if used to eliminate wasted space during transport and to reduce distances travelled by deliveries and customer returns. However, at present it appears any potential benefits may be offset by attendant practices which serve to increase emissions – such as the growing frequency of small-batch orders by retailers to suppliers, and the facilitation of customer-facing one-day, two-hour or even 15-minute delivery services(as in the case of q-commerce), and inefficiencies currently built in to such on-demand delivery systems. 20 7