The Amazon Go concept store raises a question about the future of supermarkets: How many people will stores still need to operate? The Amazon Go store works by allowing registered shoppers to remove items from shelves and leave without going through the checkout; the required payment is automatically deducted from the customer’s card. Checkout is not the only store operation that can be automated, and future supermarkets with a high degree of digitization could operate with around 40 percent fewer labor hours.
