The retail employee of the future: where AI meets human touch

‘Around sixty percent of consumers expect to have an experience in the physical store of the future,’ according to last year's Retail Monitor. This highlights the crucial role of future retail employees in shaping customer experience, yet attracting and retaining these skilled individuals remains a challenge.  For our Retail Monitor 2025, we explored what a future in-store retail employee would look like and how retailers can elevate the in-store employee role to one that people aspire to. 

Now is the time to make your in-store retail employees into the MVPs of your omnichannel approach. What that looks like? Picture this: It's early morning and your store opens in half an hour. Sara, a pro-active and tech-savvy employee, starts with a check-in on her work tablet. An inventory check, options for placement of high-ticket items, and the most recent trends. All guided by AI systems and based on the latest data. On the personalized customer engagement platform, she checks for scheduled appointments and client preferences. As customers start arriving, Sara seamlessly transitions into a personal assistant role. Armed with her tablet for all data insights and quick answers from AI, she uses a perfect blend of technical efficiency and empathetic interaction to tailor each shopping experience to the individual client. An intriguing and attractive picture. Maybe even a role to aspire to, wouldn't you say?

The transformation required to make the in-store employee a true driver of success faces several challenges. Historically, retail training has focused on sales, often overlooking the crucial extensive product knowledge customers expect from retail employees and crucial soft skills—relationship building, communication, and behavioural analysis—needed to connect with customers. Then there is skill development around the application of technology and AI. It is a very new and still-developing technology and the blunt use of AI in operations often lacks integration with personalized customer interactions. Another big challenge is the divide between in-store personnel and corporate strategies. Now consider these challenges as opportunities - we have:

The landscape is ripe for change and there are significant opportunities with concrete actions retailers can take to make this employee of the future a reality: 

• Improve career perspective: involve in-store employees in projects, create cross-functional mentorship to foster knowledge sharing and career development, offer non-monetary bonuses, and create a formalized customer feedback process
• Balance tech with human interaction: provide the right solutions that support human centred approach, train your retail employees, and involve in-store teams in selecting and adopting new tech.
• Close the gap between store and corporate: create store-immersion programmes for corporate personnel that are mandatory, of significance, and for the long-term.

Can you imagine the customer feedback? Picture Sara again, but this time at the end of her workday. The doors are closed, the store is organized, and Sara is reflecting on her day. She felt a great sense of satisfaction from her last customer's joy when she ordered the last perfect purple version of the product for them through the online webshop. Sara also quickly jots down the idea she had for the strategic project she is working on for corporate. She wants to flesh it out further with Chris, her mentor at the head office, to make sure she can present something solid to the team. If she frames it right, she might even be eligible for that bonus she's been keeping her eye on.  

Our Retail Monitor 2025 shows that the path to the attraction and retention of skilled in-store personnel lies in actively acknowledging their value, equipping them with the right skills and supporting them with people and technology, so that they help you build meaningful, lasting customer relationships in an increasingly digitalized and depersonalized world. By embracing these strategies, retailers can not only attract and retain top talent but also create a more engaging and profitable customer experience, ultimately shaping the future of retail.