The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
MADRID, Spain — Robots will eventually replace human workers in the retail industry, the chief executive of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com predicted on Tuesday.
China's second-largest e-commerce business has built up an extensive logistics network and is investing heavily in drones, robotics and automation.
"Sooner or later, our entire industry will be operated by AI (artificial intelligence) and robots, not humans," Richard Liu said to retail executives at the annual World Retail Congress in Madrid.
JD.com has expanded heavily into luxury goods, apparel and offline retail over the past year in an effort to tap new consumers, echoing similar efforts by bigger rival Alibaba Group Holding .
However, Liu said he thinks it will take another decade for technology and shoppers to be ready for fully automated stores.
"We have to make a lot of innovation every day and never stop... Reduce cost and improve customer experience. That's all," Liu said of his business philosophy.
Amazon.com opened its first checkout-free grocery store in January.
Liu also said that Western retailers were shielded somewhat from the sector's rapid pace of change by the loyalty of their customers, in contrast with China, where shoppers prefer to try something new and are more demanding in terms of delivery speed.
By Emma Thomasson; editor: David Goodman.
When the American sportswear retailer announced the return of its controversial founder as CEO Wednesday, investors were perplexed. BoF unpacks why Plank may be back — and the challenges that lie ahead in his bid to transform its fortunes.
The category’s biggest brands by market capitalisation report results this week, and will need to show they have a plan to fend off fast-growing competition.
By investing in an elevated product and shopping experience, Spanish retailers Inditex and Mango are seeing tremendous growth despite fierce competition from the likes of Temu and a cash-strapped consumer.
The ByteDance-owned app’s e-commerce play has been met with mixed response from users. Still, sales seem to keep ticking up.