Robots will steal our jobs. There are countless articles and research reports that tell us how many jobs we will lose to automation.
While titles like these are great for improving click-through rates, they don’t paint the entire picture and they leave out the most important part of the equation: yes, some jobs will be lost to automation. But other jobs will be created due to automation. For example, a mere push of a button replaced elevator operators and the internet replaced a lot of travel agencies with OTA websites and DIY holidays. On the other hand, new jobs were created for smart elevator builders and DIY holiday website designers, and copywriters.
More importantly, when used properly, technology can enhance humanity.
Labor pioneer Walther Reuther believed that automation would be the salvation of the working man. By replacing back-breaking jobs with robots and hard toil with technology, humans will have a chance to more meaningful and less assiduous work.
How Technology Creates Better Lives -- the Financial Argument
A bill to raise the stagnant federal minimum wage to $15 per hour was recently blocked in the Senate. The leading argument for this block was that an increase in the pay floor could hamper small businesses in certain parts of the country.
While many small businesses have been affected by the pandemic, technology plays a crucial role in providing employees with better wages and a better work experience altogether.
Technology plays a crucial role here.
Cannabis dispensaries have an opportunity to lead the change through retail-empowering technology that’s readily available. Through the digitalization of dispensaries, retailers would need fewer staff members. Thus, they can hire better, more qualified people for better wages. Studies have shown that increased job satisfaction leads to an increase in job performance and, in turn, to a better customer experience. In other words, when you can afford to pay better wages, everyone wins -- it’s an investment in your employees’ morale, long-term performance, and in the pride they take in their work.
Technology can account for more than retail entrepreneurs’ ability to pay higher wages.
Technology Fuels Workplace Humanity
The Peak Beyond Smart Stores empower customers to browse the inventory easily, educate themselves on the basics of the products, make informed purchases, and even check themselves out with smart point-of-sale integration featuring live inventory syncing and push to cart ordering.
How does this help enhance humanity, when it looks like it’s alienating us?
Smart Stores and Interactive POP Displays cut down on the mechanical work sales clerks have to perform every day. Technology replaces basic questions like “Can I find X product here?” or “What are the ingredients in Y product?” or the impersonal check-out process to make room for meaningful, in-depth conversations and better customer engagement.
This is where the value of being a smart, educated, and eager to help sales clerk comes into play. By taking away the equivalent of back-breaking work in retail, the employees can focus on creating meaningful relationships with the customers.
They now have the time to engage in longer conversations with product connoisseurs that are more likely to become loyal customers. They can take the time to get to know each of them and obtain detailed feedback that will help them improve their skills and the business in general.
Employees in technology-fueled shops get to work smarter and offer a better retail experience. More importantly, they get to do so from the very moment they become part of your staff. The same technology that customers rave about can help streamline their training and help them be ready to serve real-life customers faster.
Using Big Data Analytics to Delight Customers
When technology is embedded in the core of your business model, it’s not just the employees and the entrepreneurs that benefit. It’s the customers too!
80% of the respondents in a recent study said that they want personalized experiences in retail. So far, we’ve covered how you can do that with less busy employees who have the time to focus on customer needs.
Let’s take a look at how you can turn this into an omnichannel experience for them. A Data as a Service (DaaS) approach uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze customer interactions with your brand and offer you valuable insights into their triggers, their needs, and their purchase behavior.
In turn, you will know exactly what your customers want or need. You can avoid one of the most common mistakes in email marketing: sending the wrong message to the wrong customer. For instance, you would never send a customer who’s only bought indica-dominant products an email about a discount for sativa-based products.
The insights powered by big data analytics will let you offer personalized experiences to your customers wherever they are -- at home, reading your latest newsletter or in your shop, browsing through your latest arrivals, or getting additional information about them from the savvy sales clerk.
Final Thoughts
The unknown can be challenging sometimes. This is why news about robots stealing our jobs is often spine-chilling. However, technology is here to stay and it’s continuously evolving.
When used properly, it will steal neither jobs nor our humanity from us. Quite the opposite. It can help us thrive. It can help us employ and grow the retail leaders of tomorrow -- today’s sales staff who enjoys work satisfaction.
