Articles are making their way across the internet claiming Amazon’s new brick and mortar stores will operate with robots and as few as three human employees on the floor.
The company’s first Amazon Go store is beta testing in Seattle. It’s an automated grocery that reportedly uses robots to retrieve and bag items for shoppers. While the beta store has a relatively small footprint, others could be as large as 40,000 square feet, including fresh produce and other perishables.
Stores could operate with as few as three humans: one to stock shelves (until they find a way to automate that process), one to deliver pick-up orders and one on hand to sign up new users.
From the New York Post article citing Amazon “insiders”:
In the case of Amazon’s automated retail prototype, a half-dozen workers could staff an average location. A manager’s duties would include signing up customers for the “Amazon Fresh” grocery service. Another worker would restock shelves, and still another two would be stationed at “drive-thru” windows for customers picking up their groceries, fast-food style.
Currently, according to the Food Marketing Institute, there are about 90 workers for the average grocery store.
Amazon has denied it plans to open as many as 2,000 brick-and-mortar grocery locations, but all of this work into one beta test suggests they plan on at least a few more.