AI predicts digital future for UK high street - report

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jun 20, 2023

We’re hearing a lot about artificial intelligence at the moment and the stories seem to veer from the end of the world as we know it to a boon for humankind.

The latest is definitely on the gloomy side, although it’s less about the impact of AI and more about using AI to predict a bleak future.

Some physical stores may have bounced back strongly from the pandemic, but physical retail is still in long-term danger, we’re told. Large e-commerce-based physical stores are likely to crop up across the UK high street in the next five to 10 years, according to the prediction.

Money saving website Savoo used AI to visualise the future of the British high street and suggested more than 11,000 chain stores would disappear by 2030, with almost 2,400 gone from London. 

Online stores such as ASOS, Etsy and Amazon using automated tech could replace some of them. That’s even though early experiments in this area, by Amazon for instance, haven’t exactly proved to be sector-crushing winners.

Last year Amazon closed its 4-Star shop chain in the US and its two branches in the UK (one was in Bluewater and on in Westfield)

Of course retail always changes, but the big issue is that as physical stores gradually vanish, so could employees. A study by KPMG and technology recruitment and IT services provider Harvey Nash found that AI could replace 20% of retail jobs by 2024.

The Office for National Statistics has also estimated that over 65% of retail cashiers and nearly 72% of shelf fillers are at risk of having their jobs automated.

Ed Fleming, managing director at Savoo, said: “With the rise in online shopping becoming more convenient for many, we have seen huge high-street names buckle. People’s shopping habits are forever changing and businesses need to adapt quickly to survive.”