Retail Automation: Stranded Workers? Opportunities and risks for labor and automation

December 3, 2019

The retail landscape is experiencing unprecedented change in the face of disruptive forces, one of the most recent and powerful being the rapid rise of automation in the sector. The World Economic Forum predicts that 30-50% of retail jobs are at risk once known automation technologies are fully incorporated. This would result in the loss of about 6 million retail jobs and represents a greater percentage reduction than the manufacturing industry experienced. Using Osborne and Frey study1 with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the analysis suggests that more than 7.5 million jobs are at high risk of computerization. A large proportion of the human capital represented by the retail workforce is therefore at risk of becoming “stranded workers.”

Spotlight

Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Sears, Roebuck and Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), is a leading broadline retailer providing merchandise and related services. Sears, Roebuck offers its wide range of home merchandise, apparel and automotive products and services through more than 2,700 Sears-branded and affiliated stores in the United States and Canada, which includes over 890 full-line and more than 1,350 specialty stores in the U.S. Sears, Roebuck also offers a variety of merchandise and services through sears.com, landsend.com, and specialty catalogs.

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Executive Summary of the KPMG Study ”Trends in Retail 2020“

whitePaper | November 12, 2019

The retail industry faces immense challenges in the coming years. These challenges include demographic change, raw materials becoming more expensive, consumers changing their behaviour due to increasing digitalisation and e-commerce. These are only some of the major changes currently taking place in the retail industry. The “Trends in Retail 2020” study performed by KPMG in Germany and the EHI Retail Institute highlights factors which will have a significant impact on the future development of the German retail market.

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whitePaper | April 30, 2022

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SAP vs Oracle

whitePaper | August 10, 2022

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HP POS SYSTEMS

whitePaper | July 31, 2021

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whitePaper | March 31, 2022

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Spotlight

Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Sears, Roebuck and Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), is a leading broadline retailer providing merchandise and related services. Sears, Roebuck offers its wide range of home merchandise, apparel and automotive products and services through more than 2,700 Sears-branded and affiliated stores in the United States and Canada, which includes over 890 full-line and more than 1,350 specialty stores in the U.S. Sears, Roebuck also offers a variety of merchandise and services through sears.com, landsend.com, and specialty catalogs.

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