Shop X: the need for speed

Skill shortages, oversupply and recruitment setbacks are frequently proclaimed as menaces to the future of the industry, however exclusive interviews Retail News secured with leading players this month offer solutions and realistic prospects of cures to these ills.

Author of the study Shop X: where is the store heading? Alex Kwiatkowski told Retail News retailers globally are striving to win back their share of online sales by making customers' shopping experiences more theatrical, with speed of transaction central to operations.

Self-service tills have garnered most attention among new store technologies, he said, as the switch translates to savings on labour, reduction of shrinkage and fewer cashier errors.

Could turning to new technologies result in fewer concerns about handling large queues, avoiding unmanned tills, and holding on to the front line, albeit a much smaller one?

In response to demand for one-stop retailing spaces and the prevailing catch-cry of ‘faster faster' among consumers, Saleh Lootah has launched a new chain of super centres, with eight outlets scheduled to open in the UAE by 2009.

His approach to expediency is far removed from the robotic, technological advances gaining ground however, as customers will be welcomed to the stores by staff, and greeted by name.

Another question emerges here: do customers in the Middle East want to speed up their shopping experiences in combination with friendly, ‘local shop' service, and if so can both be achieved simultaneously?

The predicament faced by retail giants, and one currently sending a shiver through the industry, is finding enough trained staff to keep up with expansion, as stressed by Landmark Group CEO Micky Jagtiani to Retail News.

Step forward Dr Muhammad Amin Kashgari, sector CEO for Retail at the Savola Group, with his plans for a Retail Academy in Saudi Arabia.

The move should give the group access to a strong labour pool for its blueprinted expansion, and could deliver a breakthrough with thousands of graduates in a country boasting highly attractive demographics for retailers.

Should other retail groups follow Dr Kashgari's initiative as an answer to staffing struggles, or could impersonal, high-tech innovations be the way forward?

Without delay, send me your opinions.

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