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More Retail Stores Partner High-Tech Devices, Staff

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By JEANNINE AVERSA The Associated Press

Published: January 7, 2008

Updated: 01/06/2008 04:22 pm

WASHINGTON - Red pumps. Silver slingbacks. Bronze flats. Black suede boots. Size 7 1/2, please.

Without leaving the customer's side, Macy's sales associate Felicia Dixon uses a small, hand-held electronic device that essentially summons the shoes in the right style, color and size from the stockroom.

It is not quite magic: A clerk in the back room receives the request electronically and brings out the merchandise.

The shopper does not have to hunt around for a clerk each time she wants to try on a different style or needs a different size. Better service means happier customers, and that could lead to more sales.

At least that is the hope, from the retailer's perspective.

Stores spend $34.5 billion a year on all kinds of technology, from the cables and routers behind the scenes to in-store devices such as price checkers, self-service checkout stations and electronic kiosks for customers, the National Retail Federation says.

With older equipment needing to be replaced, spending for high-tech upgrades is expected to increase, the federation says.

Number Of Jobs Declining

Some workers might view technology such as self-checkouts as threatening their job. Other devices - electronic price checkers or Macy's shoe locator - might make their jobs easier.

Still, the number of jobs in some segments of the retail industry is diminishing, and economists believe that technology has played a prominent role.

An Associated Press analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data found that department stores have slashed 247,100 jobs since June 2001, when employment in that sector peaked.

The number of jobs at food and beverage stores has fallen by 118,800 since April 2000.

Technology that allows companies to produce more goods or provide service to their customers with fewer workers or with their current staff is a factor in some job losses, economists say. A second is consolidation when a company buys out a rival or merges with a competitor.

Yet companies say a reduced workforce is not the main goal of technological innovations.

At the Macy's in Arlington, Va., store manager Paul Gassner says extra workers were hired when the shoe locator technology was brought to the women's shoe department about two years ago.

It has "significantly improved sales" and proved to be a big time saver, he says. It lets sales associates such as Dixon get shoes on customers' feet more quickly by saving employees the time of having to keep running back to the stockroom.

It took Dixon a week or two to master the device. Now it's easy, she says.

More familiar to customers is the self-checkout.

The retail industry spent $380 million on installing new self-service checkout units in 2006, and that is expected to increase to $457 million this year, says Greg Buzek, president of IHL Consulting Group, a research and consulting company that specializes in technology for the retail and hospitality industries.

Making the investment in self-checkouts may not necessarily yield a big payoff for the retailer.

The average self-service checkout machine costs $21,000 and has a typical life of five years, Buzek estimates.

In contrast, a regular cash register costs on average $4,000 and has a longer life - typically nine years, Buzek says. Often, the self-service checkout machines are clustered in a group of four at stores, with one store clerk designated to oversee the self-checkout squad, he says.

The average wage of a grocery store cashier is $19,060 a year, according to the Labor Department.

In addition to cost, there are concerns about theft. Some stores have a clerk both watch and help customers at self-checkouts. Many stations at grocery stores have scales that weigh customers' bags as a way to detect cheating.

Interactivity Of The Future

Stores also are increasingly interested in ways to use technology to provide more information about products or other things while shoppers are in the store.

One example is the interactive kiosk. Through a live video link, a customer can ask an expert about equipment needed to install a home theater system or how to connect computers at home via wireless routers or what kind of hiking equipment or kayak to buy.

In the future, shoppers might be able to pay for their purchases by touching a finger to a screen or electronic pad, which would match a digitally stored imprint of the finger, and typing in a personal identification number.

Larry Lewark, Macy's point person on technology, predicts that in five years, customers routinely will pay for merchandise with a few clicks on their cell phone or other personal digital device.

Another idea is using an interactive mirror-computer in a fitting room. With a touch of a button on the mirror screen, a customer can notify a clerk to bring a specific item to try on. A customer also may want to use such technology for a virtual fashion show; imagine standing behind a projected image of a dress, skirt or other article of clothing, he says.

Could there come a time when grocery store clerks, department store salespeople and other retail workers will seem a quaint thing of the past?

No, says Mike Mojica, partner in Accenture Consulting's retail practice.

"You need to have a human face to be part of the mix," he says.

SMART STORES

Stores increasingly are looking for new ways to use technology, including interactive kiosks or touch screens, to provide shoppers with more information about products. Examples include:

•At REI, a retailer of outdoor gear, customers can type in a question and get answers and feedback from a product specialist.

•At Au Bon Pain, an eatery in Washington, D.C., customers can find out the calories in a carrot nut muffin (520) or the ingredients in black bean low-fat soup by using a touch screen.

•At Whole Foods, the supermarket chain has kiosks in about half of its U.S. stores where people can get recipes as well as cooking tips, health pointers and other information.

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