Singapore plans to deploy humanoids to boost the retail industry

Retailers are also urged to embrace internationalisation and omni-channel strategies.

The city-state is stepping up measures to stimulate its sluggish economy and among its newest gameplan is to create a more vibrant retail industry with the aid of a retail industry transformation map (ITM).

According to Spring Singapore, the ITM will help in spurring higher productivity among retailers through various technological efforts. It specifically urges traditional shops to adopt an omni-channel strategy to better reach out and support targeted end-to-end consumer needs across both online and offline channels.

The Lion City is planning to deploy humanoid assistants to provide customer service, as well as RFID applications for inventory management. These, along with automated retail services and cashier-less stores, are some of the ITM’s solutions to alleviate manpower crunch in the sector.

“Retailers can also look forward to utilising Augmented Reality (AR) to enhance seamless experiences in store and at home,” the release said.

The ITM also urges retailers to upskill their workers in the latest in-store technologies to meet anticipated demand for specialists in digital marketing, e-commerce and data analytics.

Finally, the roadmap sees internationalisation as critical element for the growth of the retail sector considering the limitations of Singapore’s domestic market.

“To facilitate retailers’ entry into overseas markets, businesses can partner international e-commerce platforms for better outreach to overseas clients,” said Spring Singapore.