Bibliographic Metadata

Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are rapidly reshaping the global retail sector. The rise of e-commerce and omnichannel retail, the assembly of detailed consumer profiles through extensive data-gathering and analysis, and the intensification of work through surveillance and automated management systems are bringing significant disruption to the sector. The Covid-19 pandemic– while not a cause of changes in itself – has catalysed and accelerated many of these pre-existing trends. This FES – UNI Europa report outlines recent technological developments in the retail that are linked to AI and automation and discusses the implications for consumers, retail organisations and – especially– workers and unions. A core objective in identifying and examining digitalisation processes is to consider what role trade unions should play in the ongoing technological upheavals impacting the retail sector.