It may seem like the opposite, but Scan & Go is here to support staff, and not replace them. 

It’s a phrase we hear a lot at MishiPay when talking to people that are interested in our Scan & Go technology; “What about the store staff? Won’t this technology make them redundant?”. While the world progresses into the age of automation, AI and robotics, it’s easy to see how people arrive at this conclusion, however Scan & Go is here to support in-store staff and not replace them.

It’s estimated that 1.7 million manufacturing jobs have been replaced by robots since the year 2000. Meanwhile, AI has reportedly replaced millions of jobs in places like call centres, helplines and previously personable jobs like booking and checking into hotels and other accommodation. To that end, we understand the concern for in-store staff when it comes to implementing a technology aimed at disrupting the 100-year-old shopping ritual of visiting a store, picking a product and then having to wait in a queue and pay at a checkout.

This technological revolution, coupled with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent effects on the economy and employment certainly compounds these feelings and concerns for job security in physical stores. At first glance, Scan & Go technology appears to be another signal of reduced jobs within stores, but this is not the reality. In fact, Scan & Go aims to complement staff in physical stores.

MishiPay’s Scan & Go technology exists to revitalise the experience of in-store shopping, removing checkout friction and giving shoppers access to enriched product information. Standing in line and waiting to pay costs retailers and impedes what should be the highlight of a shopper’s journey, the transition of ‘wanting to own’, to ‘now owned’.  With Scan & Go, shoppers can make that transition with great fluidity and seamlessness, straight from their own mobile phones, eliminating any need to waste time waiting in line.

Removing the need to queue to pay for a product and giving the shopper the means to checkout on their mobile phone means stores have the opportunity to remove the checkouts themselves. You may be thinking “but doesn’t getting rid of the checkouts reduce the need for staff?” With Scan & Go, that is not entirely the case. People only believe that because we have been conditioned to think that that’s the sole responsibility of an in-store employee due to the aforementioned 100-year-old shopping routine. Very rarely do staff wish to be employed to be trapped behind a checkout for 8 hours a day. Instead, they want to be part of the brand’s story, providing shoppers with an experience that meet their needs. With the removal of the physical checkout, staff can be better brand ambassadors and more productive employees. Scan & Go allows staff to be liberated from the checkout to do just that. Staff can also carry out essential tasks like ensuring products are stocked and the layout of the store is as efficient as possible given that more space has been afforded to them by removing the bulky checkouts. Scan & Go can also ensure staff are kept safer and still give shoppers the same personable experience. By removing the need to physically interact with shoppers, staff are given an extra layer of protection and prevention from the COVID-19 virus.

Scan & Go shouldn’t be viewed as a tool that aims to replace the personable approach to shopping. Instead, Scan & Go is a tool in the ever-growing arsenal of digital shopping technologies that can aid staff and businesses to be more productive and be at the cutting edge of the changing physical shopping landscape which is essential in this age of safer and smarter shopping.