Imagine you’re standing in front of a clothing display: it shows a business suit with more creases than Clint Eastwood’s cheeks. No, not quite your thing.
Suddenly, the display is replaced by a leather catsuit with faux leopardskin jacket. Aha!
Well, imagine no more. Start-up company Mystor-E has developed software that can detect your gender, age and personal style, all from a video feed. Clothing stores can instantaneously combine this data with information about external factors, such as today’s weather or fashion trends, to create visual recommendations tailored to you and you alone.
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So forget clothes rails and static mannequins showing the same outfit to everyone.
We’re talking technology that can power digital displays to promote the right product, to the right customer, at the right time.
In a world where on average more than 70% of visitors to a store leave without buying anything, this could be a gamechanger for the high street retail industry – which at times has struggled to keep pace with the march of online shopping.
But will the digital world replace retail workers? Not on your Aunt Nelly!
Interactive displays are exciting but there are many human roles more important in the task of enhancing the customer experience – and, of course, boosting sales. Could one of these retail roles on s1jobs right now be right for you?
Let’s start with the classic. Working on the frontline in stores across Scotland, the sales assistant is an entry-level retail job with a wide variety of duties: from handling purchases and restocking shelves to helping customers find ‘just what they were looking for’.
Being on the shop floor most of the time means you’re an ambassador for the shop, so you need to be good with people and have plenty of patience – no matter how much they wind you up.
In the larger department stores there is also a great deal of customer service at play.
As well as charging customers and carefully packing their items, a bit of banter is always a bonus. Plus you could use this to move into discussing the option of a store credit card that can save them money – and get you brownie points with the store manager.
In Scotland’s supermarkets, meanwhile, there are still many of us who have a healthy fear of automated check-outs. What if I forget to scan the truffles?
That’s why cashiers are still so important.
Yes, this job involves scanning items and handling cash or card transactions but it’s also all about your cheery hello.
And maybe you’ll spot the carton of beetroot juice is leaking and tannoy for a new one: saving a potential car valeting bill for the unwary customer.
It’s all in a day’s work!
Transform your career choices with a selection of Retail roles from s1jobs