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Post by The Mad Hatter on Jun 11, 2012 8:09:09 GMT -5
Very interesting concept. Mega supermarket chain Tesco has designed a virtual supermarket in South Korea in hopes to gain more business than its competitor E-Mart. According to the video below, Koreans are the second-most hardworking people in the world and for them, grocery shopping once a week is a dreaded task. So, Tesco Homeplus created a virtual store in Seoul subway stations in which the displays and merchandise are exactly the same as the stores. Customers scan the desired product with their smartphone and it then appears in their online cart. The products will be delivered to their door "right after you get home." www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/27/south-korea-virtual-supermarket_n_885150.html |
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Post by StormInateacup on Jun 11, 2012 8:34:42 GMT -5
Fumy thing is that the overheads for running these places will be massively less than for an actual shop, which provides employment and a social outlet for customers. But you can bet your arse that food prices won't come down long term as a result of it.
What will be reduced long term is yet another employment option for low skilled and young workers. Supermarkets are a major employer. Of students, of early school leavers, of women with small children who would otherwise be welfare dependent.
One more sign that the underclass is increasingly not just expendable in a modern society - but a looming liability. When a large unskilled labour force is no longer necessary, all the underclass become is a liability - because they need to receive social welfare payments.
The war on unemployed people seems to escalate daily - now tell me how initiatives like this can do anything other than add to their ranks.
Am I paranoid? My oath I am - the cunts really are out to get us.
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Post by The Mad Hatter on Jun 11, 2012 8:47:05 GMT -5
I think you haven't thought this through.
Someone will have to be order pickers, baggers and then deliver the product. Someone will still have to stock warehouse shelves. Someone will still need to clean the toilets, sweep the floors and take out the trash.
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Post by watershield on Jun 11, 2012 11:21:14 GMT -5
No, I think she said it right.
Cut out 25 stores of 100,000 sq ft each and put it all in one wharehouse of say 1,000,000 and same day deliver service from suppliers.
Cut staff in 25 stores. Avg store here has about 30 people on shifts so that 750 staff. Move 250 to the wharehouse.
Net result reduced operating costs from facilities and transportation. Reduced property taxes. Reduced wages.
If anything, they will add a sur charge for the convieniance and service.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2012 12:10:26 GMT -5
OUCH
I couldn't do it. I want to look at my meat and veg before I buy them.
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Post by rscott on Jun 11, 2012 12:24:27 GMT -5
OUCH I couldn't do it. I want to look at my meat and veg before I buy them. I agree, I want to look at my meat, fruit and veggies but who cares with canned and frozen. Our little town of 1500 has two grocery stores with online ordering and local delivery. We've been ordering groceries by phone around here for over 80 years, the computer was a natural evolution. If I order a gallon of milk and bag of cat litter, it's usually on my doorstep within an hour. I always give a tip as it saves me time and gas, not to mention time spent staring stoned at the cookie and ice cream section. In the three years they've been doing it they've hired dozens of high school kids as stockers and drivers. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2012 12:56:50 GMT -5
I have to agree, I don't care about the canned or frozen stuff, for me, if I'm going to the store anyway....
It's not like i have to load or unload it, that's what teenager children are for. When they complain, I simple explain who the food is for and they shut up quick enough.
We had delivery service in Florida from both Publix and one of the local stores. My parents used it quite often. I didn't, again if I'm going to be there anyway....
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Post by StormInateacup on Jun 11, 2012 13:01:29 GMT -5
Warehouse shelves these days are largely stocked by robots. Products are picked by robots. The delivery drivers will work for contractors, just as the deliveries from the local supermarkets now are contracted out.
Say there is a city such as the one I live in where one of the major chains has 25 stores. There are between 50-100 employees in each store. You can bet your arse that in a future when all those stores have been replaced by one centralised warehouse delivering online orders, as few as 1 in 10 of those employees will be needed to run that business. The small shops rscott referenced do need the people to service that clientèle. Buying robots and building a warehouse that is designed for their operation is uneconomical. But it's not uneconomical for Tescos who will be servicing markets of hundreds of thousands of people.
Economies of scale operate like that.
The other downside is how it will effect those who don't have online banking. Who don't have computers. The poor. The elderly. The illiterate. Fewer and fewer places for them to choose to shop. They will be forced to smaller "convenience" type shops. Garages and corner shops. Where choice is limited and prices astronomically higher.
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Post by watershield on Jun 11, 2012 18:29:37 GMT -5
Most of these things start in Asia with large populations and limited space. There is a higher need to streamline, and prepackage everything. The systems usually don't make it here until they have ran for a while and the bugs worked out.
So it will be a few years at least before we can anticipate it in North America. That said however, we do already have stores that take telephone orders and do home delivery same day.
As to the poor, I think that a time is coming that just about everything we do will incorporate our cell phones. In the near future, anyone who doesn't have a phone will be issued one by a government service. The number of telephone Land lines are reducing while the number of cell phones is dramatically growing.
Ever week there is a new set of apps to make life easy, fun or more connected. As I understand it, in Japan they have an app that allows you to use your phone as a credit card.
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Post by The Mad Hatter on Jun 12, 2012 7:58:08 GMT -5
Most of these things start in Asia with large populations and limited space. There is a higher need to streamline, and prepackage everything. The systems usually don't make it here until they have ran for a while and the bugs worked out. So it will be a few years at least before we can anticipate it in North America. That said however, we do already have stores that take telephone orders and do home delivery same day. As to the poor, I think that a time is coming that just about everything we do will incorporate our cell phones. In the near future, anyone who doesn't have a phone will be issued one by a government service. The number of telephone Land lines are reducing while the number of cell phones is dramatically growing. Ever week there is a new set of apps to make life easy, fun or more connected. As I understand it, in Japan they have an app that allows you to use your phone as a credit card. I hope you are wrong about the phone. We have a cheapo pay as you go phone that doesn't have built in tracking GPS, the RV is old enough that it has no GPS. We can still be tracked if we use the debit card, but not if we only use cash. |
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