Random Thoughts

Not quite sure how I think about what these people are spinning… Certainly there are many more aspects to consider. One one hand I think technology should go further at the retail level. I have been in conversations about ideas for improved technology and ease of shopping with more technology at the retail level. At the same time, considering the loss of retail jobs, there are many people out there that are good at retail, yet there seems to be less opportunity for these people to work. This is a real shame, because a big part of the retail experience is the people, the manners, not just pretty displays.

There are many other industries that are having similar issues, from real estate to radio and many in between. More on this later.

Article that started this random thought:

(from the Tennessean Newspaper)

Technology eases – or erases – jobs

By JEANNINE AVERSA
Associated Press

Retailers rely on electronic helpers in hopes of higher sales

WASHINGTON — Red pumps. Silver slingbacks. Bronze flats. Black suede boots. Size 7½, please.

Without leaving the customer’s side, Macy’s sales associate Felicia Dixon uses a small, hand-held electronic device that essentially summons the shoes in the right style, color and size from the stockroom.

That’s one example of the kind of technology retail stores today spend $34.5 billion a year on.

Some workers might view technology, such as self-checkouts, as threatening their job. Other devices — electronic price checkers or Macy’s shoe locator — might make their jobs easier.

But the number of jobs in some segments of the retail industry is diminishing, and economists believe that technology has played a prominent role.

An Associated Press analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment data found that department stores have slashed 247,100 jobs since June 2001, when employment in that sector peaked.

Stores buy all kinds of technology, from the cables and routers behind the scene to in-store devices such as price checkers, self-service checkout stations and electronic kiosks for customers, says the National Retail Federation.

With older equipment needing to be replaced, spending for high-tech upgrades is expected to increase, the federation says.

Technology that allows companies to produce more goods or provide service to their customers with fewer workers or with their current staff is a factor in some job losses, economists say. A second is consolidation, when a company buys out or merges with a competitor.

“No local union has ever reported laying off people because of self-scanners. We installed these machines and now the direct result is X number of jobs have changed,” said Jill Cashen, spokeswoman for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, whose members include workers at grocery stores, department stores and other retailers.

Productivity — the amount a worker produces for every hour on the job — has grown at a faster rate in the retail industry than in all industries across the economy.

If this had not occurred, there now would be nearly 4.5 million more jobs in retailing, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “Arguably it has been hard on workers,” Zandi said.

Goal is customer service

Yet companies say a reduced work force is not the main goal of technological innovations.

The device Dixon, the Macy’s sales associate uses, sends the shoe request to a clerk in the back room, who brings out the merchandise. The shopper does not have to hunt around for a clerk each time she wants to try on a different style or needs a different size. Better service means happier customers, and that could lead to more sales.

At least that is the hope, from the retailer’s perspective.

At the Macy’s in Arlington, Va., store manager Paul Gassner says extra workers were hired when the shoe-locator technology was brought to the women’s shoe department two years ago. He said it had “significantly improved sales” and proved to be a big time saver.

It lets sales associates such as Dixon get shoes on customers’ feet more quickly by saving employees the time of having to keep running back to the stockroom.

It took Dixon a week or two to master the device. Now it’s easy, she says.

More familiar to customers is the self-checkout.

The retail industry spent $380 million on installing new self-service checkout units in 2006, and that is expected to rise to $457 million this year, says Greg Buzek, president of IHL Consulting Group, a research and consulting company that specializes in technology for the retail and hospitality industries.

The investment in self-checkouts may not necessarily yield a big payoff for the retailer.

The average self-service checkout machine costs $21,000 and has a typical life of five years, Buzek estimated.

In contrast, a regular cash register costs on average $4,000 and has a longer life — typically nine years, Buzek says. Often, the self-service checkout machines are clustered in a group of four at stores, with one store clerk designated to oversee the self-checkout squad, he said.

The average wage of a grocery store cashier is $19,060 a year, according to the Labor Department.

In addition to cost, there are concerns about theft. Some stores have a clerk to watch and to help customers at self-checkouts.

Devices give sellers data

Stores also are increasingly interested in ways to use technology to provide more information about products or other things while shoppers are in the store.

One example is the interactive kiosk. Through a live video link, a customer can ask an expert about equipment needed to install a home theater system or how to connect computers at home via wireless routers or what kind of hiking equipment or kayak to buy.

David Hogan, the National Retail Federation’s technology guru, says that in the future, shoppers might pay for their purchases by touching a finger to a screen or electronic
pad, which would match a digitally stored imprint of the finger.

Larry Lewark, Macy’s point person on technology, predicts that in five years customers routinely will pay for merchandise with a few clicks on their cell phone or other personal digital devices.

Saw this post on Matt’s blog.. and wow.. I’ve done this.. not sure if it started a chain, but I have bought the coffees for the car behind me, never thought about a chain of giving could be started this way. Funny. Cool.

At Starbucks people have been starting “cheer chains” where they pay extra money to pick up the coffee of the person behind them in the drive-thru. Some have gone 2 solid hours.