4.67/5 (3)

 

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There have been some major changes in grocery shopping throughout the last years. From cash to card to contactless payment, and from normal cashiers to self-checkout stations. But one thing remained the same: If you don’t check out, you’re a thief. 

 

That may change in the future: In 2018, Amazon opened up its first Amazon Go store – A supermarket where you just pick up the things you’d like to buy and leave the store. When you enter, the Amazon Go app creates a barcode to let you enter the market. The underlying technology is similar to that of an autonomously driving car. Deep learning algorithms and sensors are used to identify which products you grabbed and are also reacting if you decide to put something back into the shelf (Thales, 2020). Right now, there are 27 stores across the US (in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle)(CNBC, 2019). 

In my opinion, these kinds of stores will also come to Europe, sooner than later. It definitely enhances the convenience of the customer by being so time-saving. I can imagine the Netherlands to be the first ones to adapt this shopping concept, as Dutch supermarkets have also been proven to be very early adopters of concepts like self-checkout station or self-scanners. Next to that, Albert Heijn is already testing a similar store in Zaandam (Retail Detail, 2019). 

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=ZYxz3kdmTHo&feature=emb_logo

On the other hand this might not be the only option, as the dependency on one app might be too big. Furthermore elderly people are left behind without having another option. Also, like in most technological innovations, data security is of course a major concern. Every little movement is being recorded and directly connected to you as a customer. 

 

Do you think this is the future of retail? Will this be an addition or could this be fully replaced by traditional cashiers and self-checkout machines? Let me know in the comments. 
Sources:

CNBC (2020). Amazon just opened a cashier less supermarket – Here are all the ways it’s trying to upend the grocery industry.  Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/how-amazon-is-trying-to-upend-the-grocery-industry.html

Retail Detail (2019). This is Albert Heijn’s anger to Amazon Go. Retrieved from https://www.retaildetail.eu/en/news/food/albert-heijns-answer-amazon-go

Thales (2020). How does Amazon Go, it’s checkout-free store, work? Retrieved from https://justaskthales.com/en/amazon-go-checkout-free-store-work/

Header photo: https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2020/02/27/amazon-go-grocery-this-is-the-future-of-shopping-whether-we-like-it-ornot/#3d1db80cf6fa

 

 

5/5 (5)

When doing my internship last year, it took me about an hour one-way to get to work. This amounts up to two hours per day, 10 hours per week, 40 hours a month and about 420 hours per year which equals 17.5 days. Even though I only had to do this for six months, there were many times that I wished I could just do teleportation to spend this time better.

Of course, the way of working will also shift more towards remote working, with the COVID-19 crises being a major driver in this process. However, this is not possible for all employees. Even in the future, people that commute to work will have an effect on the city traffic – overcrowded streets and air pollution being some of the consequences (Fev, 2020).

Urban Air Mobility tries to solve these problems: No investments in infrastructure is needed, as the sky is available for everyone. Currently, many aviation and automotive companies are conducting extensive research about this topic. Airbus “City Airbus” concept is designed in such a way that it will carry up to four passengers with a speed of 120km/h (EVTOL News, 2020). Next to that, Uber is also working on building a air transportation service (called UBER Air) operating in three cities – Los Angeles, Dallas and Melbourne already in 2023 (that’s only three years!). The underlying software, Elevate Cloud Services, has started its testing phase last year (Uber, 2020).

There are different prototypes of vertical take-off and landing aircrafts that might become our preferred transportation in the next decades. All of them have one thing in common: They are electricity-powered, meaning no emissions at all, positively affecting our environment (FEV, 2020). Next to using these vehicles to get to work, it has also a high potential to bring passengers from airports to city centers (Roland Berger, 2020).

But there are also some concerns: Will people be willing to trust an autonomously flying aircraft? Where can these vehicles land? And who is liable if an accident happens?

What do you think? Would you use such a mode of transportation, if it is affordable, for every-day use?

Sources:
Airbus (2020). Urban Air Mobility. Retrieved from https://www.airbus.com/innovation/zero-emission/urban-air-mobility.html
FEV (2020). Urban Air Mobility (UAM). Retrieved from https://uam.fev.com
Uber (2020). Uber Air. Retrieved from https://www.uber.com/de/de/elevate/uberair/
Roland Berger (2020). Urban Air Mobility – The way to a sustainable intercity air transport. Retrieved from https://www.rolandberger.com/it/Point-of-View/Urban-Air-Mobility-The-way-to-a-sustainable-intercity-air-transport.html
EVTOL News (2020). Airbus City Airbus. Retrieved from https://evtol.news/airbus-helicopters/

Photo: https://innovationorigins.com/de/urban-air-mobility-stadtverkehr-in-drei-dimensionen/