RobotLab spent the last three days (March 23-25, 2016) in Las Vegas demonstrating to guests and attendees at the annual GlobalShop Conference (the nation’s largest store design and at-retail marketing show) how robots and artificial intelligence can make a profound difference in the retail environment: particularly in those boutiques, shops and stores called--at least since the arrival of the Internet-- brick and mortar stores.
Brick and mortar retailers have hit a wall. (Inspired image, don’t you agree?) Gone forever are the good-old-days when all you had to do to get customers “to beat a path to your door” was build the proverbial “better mousetrap.” In the last year alone almost ten-percent fewer people took that path at all; sales fell almost eight-percent. But the expense of mending those bricks and mortars is still there; and employee training expenses and salaries are on the way up. Doesn’t it make you wonder why they don’t simply close the doors, sow grass on the path, and move on to the Internet with their competition? Here’s a couple of good reasons.
For one thing, not every potential customer is satisfied shopping on the Internet. What customer wouldn’t prefer to actually feel the fabric, smell the perfume or taste the candy before they buy? We humans are visual animals, but the other senses demand satisfaction as well. Even those folks most easily satisfied with an online product, book buyers, remember wistfully the smell of a new book (which, by the way, they can now get online in a can for only $28.95). Besides that, online retailers have special problems and expenses also; among which are costs for IT development, and a particularly burdensome, high-rate of return precisely because the customer wasn’t able to feel, smell or taste the product before purchasing it. Shipping costs add-up fast!
So what is it we here at RobotLab suggest as the answer to the brick and mortar retailer’s dilemma? What can we deliver that will break through the wall we mentioned in the first paragraph? What do we have that will keep employee training expenses, salaries and perks under control, and allow them to compete with all-Internet retailers? Well, the first--and last--clue is found in our company name, RobotLab. Yup, that’s right, Robots! Robots and artificial intelligence.
With our turnkey solutions and customized, cloud-based intelligence systems, companies can train certain individuals once and once only, knowing the employee will never leave for a competitor; never report late to work; never demand overtime or a raise; and never, never, lose the company a valuable customer because of a bad attitude. The customer, on the other hand, can be certain that the sales associate’s product knowledge is state-of-the-art and its interest in the sale is not driven by hope for a big commission.
If you didn’t make it down to Vegas this week to see our display--which, by the way, won the award for “Best Retail Tech”--we hope you will look us up at RobotsLAB.Com. We have some amazing stuff to show you.
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