Cashierless stores arouse labor concerns

Customers shop food at smart convenient store that opened on the Eulji Twin Tower in central Seoul, on Jan. 14. / Courtesy of GS25

By Kim Jae-heun

With cashierless convenience stores becoming a trend here, concerns involving the drop in human labor opportunities have surfaced. After America's retail giant Amazon Go opened its very first convenience store without cashiers in Jan. 2018, 25 stores adopting the automatic payment system opened in four states.

According to Bloomberg, Amazon said it will increase the number of its smart stores to nearly 3,000 across the nation by 2021. This also led GS Retail to launch the first cashierless convenience store here in Sept. 2018 in Magok, western Seoul. Following this, other local retail giants have opened smart stores adopting hi-tech payment systems.

The most prominent example is the GS25 store that opened on the 20th floor of Eulji Twin Tower in Jung-gu, central Seoul, two weeks ago.

There are over 34 smart cameras installed in the store with some 300 weight sensors that all connect to an artificial intelligence (AI) system, which plays the cashier role.

Cameras watch customers' behavior and their movement around the store while sensors detect which items they have picked. When a customer finishes shopping, they can just walk out of the store and the payment is processed automatically through a mobile application.

Despite the convenience, customers are expressing mixed feelings about cashierless stores.

“This is so cool. I don't have to wait in the queue and I can just grab and go without taking my wallet out of my pocket,” said 31-year-old nurse Lee Jung-soo. “Sometimes I felt sorry for people behind me waiting for me to pay at the convenience store but this new automatic payment system allows me to walk out without stopping.”

However, 35-year-old office worker Kim Jong-bum expressed his discomfort over the move, saying the system could lead to problems involving privacy protection.

“Think about it. Cameras watching you everywhere, anytime. This AI program will first be adopted to convenience stores, then to restaurants and clothing shops. It is only a matter of time until they all connect to put you under surveillance,” Kim said.

“I like the idea of automatic payment systems and convenient service but I would rather wait five minutes in the queue than have over 30 cameras analyzing my behavior,” Kim added.

It is predicted that it will take a while for convenience stores to adopt AI systems to run the auto-payment system as it is not yet without glitches.

The smart cameras and weight sensors have failed to catch some variables. For instance, the AI will charge the person who picks up the item first even if they hand it over it to a friend.

“We are currently in the process of testing the AI systems at our convenience store,” a GS Retail official said. “The system will soon provide a unique shopping experience for customers and increase labor efficiency for store owners.”

Committee on Innovative Growth Chairman, Andrew Noh said accepting the new technology is imperative in adapting to the modern world.

“People should not think that robots are taking jobs from us. They are only substituting arduous roles. Blue collar workers will not be pushed away and instead they will find new jobs to keep them living. Accepting digital transformation is important to solve the country's stagnated economic growth,” Noh said.