Schwerpunkt Der Kunde im Internet der Dinge Schwerpunkt Der Kunde im Internet der Dinge he first store providing an Inter- nides, & de Hoog, 2004; Scholz, 2017). Prof. Dr. Marcus Schögel net of Things (IoT) shopping To pay special attention to the check- Director experience has recently been out process also makes sense from the Institute of Marketing Cashierless Stores – Topened to the public. The Amazon Go company’s perspective. First, the peak- University of St. Gallen store, using an app, cameras and sen- end rule highlights the importance of [email protected] Ifm.unisg.ch sors, provides IoT-based shopping that the check-out because it states that the New Way mainly aims to reduce queuing times at what customers tend to remember most the cashier desks (Dougall, 2018; NZZ, is the way an experience ended (Boura- Severin Lienhard 2018). Besides this US concept, a vari- oui, Eriksson, Mansjö, & Thiel, 2019). Research Associate ety of cashierless stores is currently Second, automation in retail enables & Doctoral Student to the Customer? emerging worldwide, like “Habitat by companies to save up to 81 % of the Institute of Marketing Honestbee” in Singapore or the “Avec time currently needed for cashier acti- University of St. Gallen Box” in Switzerland (Valora, 2019). vities (Begley, Hancock, Kilroy, & [email protected] Ifm.unisg.ch Currently, large sums are being inves- Kohli, 2019). ted in the expansion of these new Therefore, it is an appropriate step cashierless concepts. Amazon plans to for retail companies to work on the en- The check-out process is one of the biggest pain points in shopping. open 3,000 cashierless stores by 2021 hancement of the check-out process. While Apple is the pioneer in cashierless shopping, several other corporations (Soper, 2018). Practitioners suggest Since retailers approach this problem that tech companies are already offe- in highly different ways, an investiga- have initiated first concepts during the last months. Innovative, IoT-driven ring their products and services to re- tion into the merits of these emerging businesses like Amazon Go or Avec Box are trying to improve the process. tailers for test runs (Capgemini, 2019). solutions is necessary. The develop- The recently established concepts vary and a deeper understanding of the Therefore it can be concluded that this ment on the part of the companies is just the beginning of a bigger trend. themselves as well as the strong media underlying functionality is still missing. Our qualitative desk research and The traditional check-out process coverage of cashierless shops show the store visits give a first overview of the design dimensions, challenges and plays a central role in retail. Currently, importance of the topic. Yet it remains opportunities for cashierless stores. it is still mostly done through a combi- an open question how exactly the exis- nation of human contact with the ting concepts differ or what forms they cashier and machine-assisted services take. Therefore, the following research Prof. Dr. Marcus Schögel, Severin Lienhard such as self-checkout stations or questions are formulated: through electronic service solutions like pick-up stations (Fitzsimmons, • Which cashierless store concepts 2003). Nowadays, a variety of new exist in the market? technologies that have never existed • What are the purchasing phases before enables retailers to establish in cashierless stores? cashierless concepts (Capgemini, 2019). In the present paper, cashierless Towards a Functional concepts are defined as stores that abo- Understanding of Cashierless lish traditional physical cashier desks Concepts and apply the newest technology in their check-out process. To examine the different concepts in The general need of streamlining more detail and to answer the research the paying process has existed for some questions, the form of a multiple case time, as waiting at the check-out has study was used, which is one of the always been perceived as one of the most commonly applied qualitative re- least satisfying parts of a shopping ex- search methods (Yazan, 2015). A mul- perience (Caballero, Lumpkin, Brown, tiple case study allows the researcher Katsinas, & Werner, 1985; Kahneman, to discern differences between and Wakker, & Sarin, 1997; Verhoef, Anto- within the cases (Yin, 2003; Baxter & 888 Marketing Review St. Gallen 1 | 2020 Marketing Review St. Gallen 1 | 2020 889 Schwerpunkt Der Kunde im Internet der Dinge Schwerpunkt Der Kunde im Internet der Dinge Jack, 2008). For the present article, re, this was added as a preparatory pha- criteria. Second, the data were compa- Fig. 1: Design Dimensions for Each Phase of the Purchase desk research served as the first source se. To summarize, the first phase en- red across concepts revealing differen- for the evaluation, store visits by the compasses the actions that the custo- ces and similarities. Finally, the key Phase of Purchase research team as a second one. A wide mer must take before purchasing, while findings were summarized and brought 0 1 3 range of literature was reviewed for all the second phase equals the check-in, together in table 1. 2 the concepts. In order to achieve a meaning how the customer gets access Before Purchase Check-in Product Selection Check-out deeper insight and understanding, se- to the store. In the third phase, the pro- Differences Between veral stores such as Avec Box in Zu- duct selection is checked more closely the Store Concepts App installation Automatic Free access Barcode scanning rich, Amazon Go in the US, Habitat by and the final phase includes the check- with existing completion by app / on product or shelf HonestBee in Singapur and the Apple out, with the focus on the process of The cashierless shops of these four in- customer account technology store in Zurich were visited by the re- paying and leaving the store. Over all dustries were established by different- Scanning corridor search team. This allowed the research phases, the proportion of user interac- sized companies, ranging from multina- App installation Automatic capture Scanning scale team to answer the questions regarding tion to store interaction was examined. tionals (Alibaba, Amazon, Valora) to Barcode scanning processes and procedures. The technology used in each case was SMEs (Migrolino) to start-ups (Bingo with new through business Design DimensionsDesign customer account technologies Barcode scanning The various cashierless stores were investigated as well. In addition, a fact Box). Geographically, the spread ext- categorized into four industries: consu- sheet was created for each concept and ends from local (e.g. Saturn Express) to Completion manually in the app mer electronics (Apple Store, Saturn related challenges were listed. Further- global (e.g. Apple Store). The formats Tapping price tags / Use customer card Face recognition Express), convenience/kiosk (Amazon more, the concepts were classified on a also differ according to how well they shelves Face recognition Go, Avec Box, Bingo Box, Migrolino), continuum on four scales: are established on the market. Some grocery stores (Habitat by HonestBee, have largely been rolled out, such as the Sam's Club Now, Hema Store, Albert • assortment: kiosk vs. department Hema or Apple Store, others serve only Source: Schögel / Lienhard, 2019. Heijn) and merchandising (Alibaba Fu- store, as innovation labs (Sam's Club Now) or turemart, TaoCafé). • development stage: prototype vs. are in their first project stages (Saturn In order to analyze the different on the market, Express). Their product ranges also dif- (like the Apple Store). After having tion of the transaction in an app (Avec cessity. In the Avec Box, for example, store concepts, a set of criteria had to be • integration level: standalone vs. fer widely. Some focus on a rather small fulfilled these requirements prior to Box), scanning corridors (Tao Café) or the customer has to scan the product’s developed. The entire purchase process part of an experience, and specified product range (e.g. the Ali- the purchase, the customer has diffe- scanning scales (Bingo Box) in order to barcode (scan-and-go). In the Amazon in cashierless stores was defined based • geographic spread: local vs. global. baba Futuremart), others are complete rent ways of access to the store. One complete the purchase. Go store, on the other hand, customers on the insights gained by the research department stores (e.g. Hema Store). option is via barcode scanning (e.g. do not have to use their smartphones at team during their visits in the stores. In Different sources per store concept When it comes to initiating a Amazon Go, Avec Box), another one is Design Dimensions all, they can just grab what they want order to define this process, the article were used in order to be able to apply purchase, some of the concepts require face recognition (Alibaba Futuremart). of Cashierless Stores to buy and leave the store. For the by Lemon and Verhoef (2016) was used the criteria listed above. The data ana- the installation of an app in advance Some stores, however, are accessible check-out, face recognition is used at as the basis. These two authors divided lysis was conducted in three steps. (e.g. Amazon Go, Habitat by Honest- without any barriers (e.g. Saturn Ex- Technology is a game-changer in retai- the Hema Store. At the TaoCafé you the purchase process into the stages First, the store concepts were evaluated bee or the Avec Box). Others can be press, Apple Store). ling (Grewal, Roggeveen, & Nordfält, just walk out through scanning corri- pre-purchase, purchase and post- individually according to the defined accessed without requiring an app As soon as the customer is in the 2017). This is in line with the findings dors and the purchase will be automa- purchase. Through mystery shopping, store, product selection is the next step. regarding design dimensions of tically completed.