ENVT1008 Digital Landscapes

Introduction

Shopping Is Frequently Imperative, nonetheless, it can as well be inconvenient and time – consuming (Wenzel & Benkenstein, 2018 p.123). With society becoming endlessly digitalized, a remarkable shift in all walks of life is befalling shifting from actuality to the virtual world, and shopping is no distinct. With e – commerce shops as well as online wholesalers such as Alibaba providing financial as well as logistical regulation, there is escalating less demand to leave the house to shop. So unquestionably, high street shops are decreasing. However, does online shopping possess the popularity gain and capacity to drive physical shops old – fashioned in future?

‘Online Shopping’ On The Extinction Or Successful Co – Existence With ‘High Street Store’

At present, constant evolution and innovation of industry is rapidly leaving high street shops behind. The stumbling block for physical shops is the digitalization threat of society in general. For instance, the rise of video streaming sites such as Netflix and YouTube destroyed physical shops that were sole premises selling video, since customers wandered to the more convenient and cheaper online equivalents (Konstantinov, 2019 p.152). For both producers as well as consumers, it is challenging to observe how the heightening of online shopping will be harmful. If shops aren’t enthusiastic to adapt online digitalization, they are plausible to be left behind.

High street stores may close, however the online shopping presence will still satisfy the consumers need, thus need for them to embrace digitalization migration. This is to ensure they retain majority of their customers, while cutting down employees’ wages cost as well as shop maintenance cost. For consumers, online shopping provides a fare additional all – inclusive encounter. Not only are the products not constrained to what is constituted inside one shop, but consumers acquire an opportunity to shop around to realize the best prices at the comfort of their own home.

The question remains whether ‘online shopping’ can successfully extinct or co-exist with ‘high street shops’.  There will always be an essence for some shops to prevail in their physical form on the high street. Places like coffee shops and bookstores will always be around, offering a service that is consistently going to be required. Impulse shopping will still subsist, where people are glancing to pass time or see something that emanates appealing to them inside the shop (Wallstein & Hitzler, 2019 p.38). Thus online shopping will not for a moment completely displaces high street shops, as there will be a little need for going into stores.

Online and offline encounters can be complemented as digital technology can ameliorate the customer encounter in stores more cost – effectively (Olelenku, 2020 p.612). Digital stores can supplant lifeless storefront windows with lively interactive screens that can alter with day time or weather and are competent taking orders or generating recommendations when the store is closed (Nejati & Zadeh, 2015 p.29). It can permit customers to delineate products or congregate outfits and display their creations in high – perceptibility locations. It can establish involving games that entice customers, stimulate them to stay longer, and recompense them for co – creating innovative schemes.

Digital technology in the configuration of tablets can as well offer sales associates almost unbounded information regarding customers, narrating the way they like to be handled and establishing precise body types or homes models that enact perfect choices. It can alter pricing as well as promotions instantaneously and accurately by offering customized recommendations. Virtual mirrors expedite and quicken the dressing room encounter by linking customer with trusted friends. Technology can eradicate capture transaction receipts, speed returns, checkout lines and file rebate claims. It can offer a call center operator full ingress to a customer’s purchase as well as complaint history.

New Technologies Used, Their Advantages And Disadvantages

Use Of Beacons Technology

Beacons are physical indicators that send signals to mobile phones.  It’s a technology composed to alter the way consumers interact with brands, thus making devices more resourceful and transforming the manner in which retailers assess the offline influence of online ads (Ching, 2016 p.47). For consumers, it indicates frictionless shopping encounter with lessened gaps between channels. They send nearby notifications to customers, enhancing shopping to become better by assisting shoppers get things done with their phone, like scanning items to acquire evaluation of splitting their bill.

The technology save cost as well as efforts for consumers to acquire resourceful information by either viewing whether the item is in stock or else finding the item while still in store. Also, they offer utilitarian benefits by offering content to consumers that is connected to the station at which they find themselves at that particular time, in an information clutter era (Atherton, 2019 p.154). In addition they offer symbolic or hedonic benefits to augment the shopping encounter. However, beacon technology constitutes physical limitations in such a way that they can be easily absorbed or reflected provide the surrounding materials or other beacons proximity. Furthermore, the technology requires customers to have installed the app and have access to Bluetooth in which they share their notifications with, in which if consumers perceive you are too pushy they will just mute the notifications for go

Facial Recognition

They are designed to discover and recognize people when their depictions are captured by camera lens (Mohammad, 2020 p.83). The technique works by computing the drawn out features of the face that is encapsulated by a digital video camera, the contrasts with the looks that were earlier evaluated and stored on a database. It is connected with abilities in reinforcing public safety and broadening its execution in numerous other applications that appear. Most advanced on bank users for identity verification, and on billboards that promote in retaliation to the passer – by moods.

It assists escalate public safety by aiding law enforcement search from perpetrators in violence crimes as well as safeguarding future offenses. It also offers consumer data protection as it involves a consumer in multifactor biometrics in order to verify user’s identity, such as voice and facial recognition. In medical institutions, it assists in recognizing patients with rare disorders to assist them in having medical diagnosis access (Elloumi, Cauchois & Pasqual, 2021 p.10). In addition, with the COVID – 19 pandemic, facial recognition technologies have been utilized to combat the virus via tracking people’s movements and intercept infected persons from travelling. However, it creates racial biasness as the technology is better in detecting light – skinned people in comparison to light – skinned people, and preferable at detecting men than women thus generating serious civil rights concerns. The technology has the capability for data breaches, in a situation where a social security number or account may be compromised, facial recognition may not be replaced like in the cases of using passwords.

Robot Assistant

The robotic assistant technology lies in the aspect that retail shops require providing trendy yet low – cost substitutes to e – commerce, declining the personnel management operations costs (Herrera & Medina, 2015 p.2562). The technology can automate the retail operation logistics; both at the front – end as well as back – end operations, thus avoiding associated lack of profits and out – of – stocks, establishing a set of activities that permit several high – level tasks to be attained successfully. As retailer is encountering the challenge of constituting sufficient space to display items from shelves, the robot assistant navigate physical shops autonomously, integrating or moderately substituting the staffs’ tasks. They also assist customers particularly the elderly by conduct activities like shopping cart creation or unearthing where the consumers desired products are situated in the shop. Therefore, robot assistant enhances cost effectiveness, ameliorated quality assurance as well as increased productivity.

However, use of robot assistant have led to potential job loses across the retail as well as grocery sectors since it can perform faster with more consistent rate (Setiabudi & Tjahyana, 2018 p.129). Nonetheless, they are not really accurate. Its initial investment cost will need a comprehensive business case to be built when regarding the technology implementation. In addition, the technology needs high skilled workers thus the existing employees need to trained as well as expand their own skill set.

Smart Mirrors

It provides beacon – associated product information, SNS sharing, product recommendation, virtual fitting, and on – offline shopping connection (Meenakumari, 2019 p.451). Smart mirrors display selected items details in coincidence with the smart hanger, warranting customers to shop more providently without the clerks’ assistance. When the customer clasps the smart hanger and proceeds near the smart mirror, the sensor linked to the mirror acknowledges it and exhibits the product thumbnail image in the mirror display. When the customer chooses the thumbnail image, the smart mirror exhibits the associated item in the mirror exhibit along with the comprehensive information, such as product price, name and size, product laundry guide, review and material.

Smart mirrors are ease to use as it can be utilized in bathrooms in conjunction with other bathroom aids such as bidet seats, bidet mirrors and toilet seats. However, they tend to glare on condition that they are set at an angle and can be quite expensive owing to their precision material and engineering utilized. Moreover they can be fairly large, and thus not suitable for compact or small spaces.

Auto Checkouts

Auto checkout terminals warrant customers to scan as well as pay groceries without interactivity with the store personal (Wright, White & Adams, 2015 p.2789). By skipping the delaying queues of regular registers, self – checkout terminals have been efficacious at escalating customer satisfactions as well as convenience. Auto checkouts solutions today are habitually executed via large physical terminals that are inclusive of payment facilities and barcode scanners. Other auto checkouts as well offer the capability to scan items already during the shopping journey with committed handheld scanning devices or the customer’s mobile phones.

Auto checkouts are simple to use and take up less space than registers. In addition they are efficient as they curtail waiting time in comparison to cashier lane, lower labor costs as an individual staff member can oversee various self – checkout counters, constitute high customer engagement. Its’ perceived control, ease of use, transaction speed, reliability and enjoyment are most impactful elements leading to customer satisfaction (Kligrer, 2020 p.2292). Nevertheless, shoplifting is an obvious disadvantage as customers are required to scan product barcodes as well as place products into a bagging area, and occasionally even weigh products.

Supermarket Of The Future

My supermarket of the future will have to motivate customers as well as ameliorate their overall encounter. It will constitute upgrades for superior food courts, cooking classes, fresh – food offerings and gastronomic areas. The stores will require deploying modern automation technologies that let loose from routine operations (Godwin, 2020 p.35). The freed hours can then be infused in activities that enumerate greater customer value. With contemporary customer facing attributes, digital tools will transfigure operations in less patent ways. Before customers make an appearance in as tore, they will have gathered their shopping lists utilizing online apps enlightened by informal intelligence, which could acknowledge their consumption patterns. As they trial products in the store, they will roll over via recipes on smartphones or tablet and make online orders for picking up or home delivery as they leave the store.

Manual tasks will be automated such as updated electronic price tags for exhibit shelves facilitating dynamic pricing to discount of those almost reaching expire date or overstocked products and saving the concern of swapping paper tags (Aparicio & Cavallo, 2019 p.162). In addition, a virtual center store version of the supermarket will be executed to ensure customers scan items on barcodes wall to add to their virtual baskets. Stores forecasting as well as ordering decisions will be automated fully, using real time out – of – stock alerts and machine – learning algorithms. Furthermore, checkouts will be customer guided as well as supported by technology. In this, customers will expect no lines and transaction times, as well as one – click cashless payments. Moreover, I anticipate that in future the stores will be capable to operate with 50% reduction in labor hours as technology will offer immense opportunities to save money by easing basic tasks while as well offering better customer encounter.

Ethical Considerations

Behaving ethically devoid of harming the environment, as well as within economic restrictions, play an essential role regardless of influence on profits (Gluesing, 2014 p.79). An ethical business will behave in a socially responsible way, executing what is right, despite not needed to do so by legislation or so as to maximize profit. The way a business treats its suppliers, workers and customers as stakeholders is a good indication of how ethical it is. This involves treating workers ethically by offering good working conditions, fair wage and permitting flexible working. To treat workers ethically will involve having reasonable expectations, paying fair prices as well as paying bills on time. To treat customer ethically will involve offering what customer wants, exceeding their expectations by providing excellent customer service, quality products or services, and ensuring that they feel appreciated and valued, as well as providing clear and accurate information on products and services in order to permit customers to fabricate informed decisions.

Reference List

Aparicio, D. and Cavallo, A. (2019). Targeted Price Controls on Supermarket Products. SSRN Electronic Journal, pp.158–167.

Atherton, C. (2019). Beacons: A tool for 21st Century teaching and learning? Research in Learning Technology, 27(0), pp.149–158.

Ching, H. (2016). The impact of utilizing mobile phones to promote physical activity among post-secondary students: a scoping review. mHealth, 2, pp.47–47.

Elloumi, W., Cauchois, C. and Pasqual, C. (2021). Will face recognition revolutionise the shopping experience? Biometric Technology Today, 2021(3), pp.8–11.

Gluesing, J.C. (2014). Ethical Considerations in Global Multi-Stakeholder Work Contexts. Journal of Business Anthropology, 1(1), p.79.

Godwin, K. (2020). Deploying New Technologies to Secure the Banana Industry. Proceedings, 36(1), p.35.

Herrera, V. and Medina, J.F. (2015). Shopping Market Assistant Robot. IEEE Latin America Transactions, 13(8), pp.2559–2566.

Kligrer, K. (2020). Deep Learning based Image Processing for Cashier-less Self-Checkout Methodology. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 9(1), pp.2291–2294.

KONSTANTINOV, P.D. (2019). DIGITALIZATION AS A MODERN THREAT TO JUSTICE. Herald of Civil Procedure, 9(2), pp.149–156.

Meenakumari (2019). Smart Shopping Trolley for Automated Billing in Supermarket. Journal of Advanced Research in Dynamical and Control Systems, 11(11-SPECIAL ISSUE), pp.448–453.

Mohammad, S.M. (2020). Facial Recognition Technology. SSRN Electronic Journal, pp.71–89.

Nejati, M. and Zadeh, M.A.M. (2015). Investigating the quality of Service in chain stores using SERVQUAL approach (Case Study: Refah Stores on Alborz Province). Archives of Business Research, 3(6), pp.21–34.

Olelenku, J. (2020). CAN PROGRAMMED CONVERSATIONS IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE? AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON CHATBOT - CUSTOMER INTERACTIONS IN EMERGING ECONOMIES. Global Fashion Management Conference, 2020, pp.611–612.

Setiabudi, D.H. and Tjahyana, L.J. (2018). Mobile Phone as a Personal Digital Shopping Assistant to Help Customers Shop in Shopping Center. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, pp.126–131.

Wallstein, S. and Hitzler, D. (2019). An Experimental Study to Investigate the Potential of Online Shopping in Immersive Virtual Realities Compared to Conventional Online Shops. International Journal of Virtual Reality, 19(3), pp.31–45.

Wenzel, S. and Benkenstein, M. (2018). Together always better? The impact of shopping companions and shopping motivation on adolescents’ shopping experience. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 44, pp.118–126.

Wright, J., White, M. and Adams, J. (2015). Food at checkouts in non-food stores: a cross-sectional study of a large indoor shopping mall. Public Health Nutrition, 18(15), pp.2786–2793.

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