While closures continue, new stores are opening; while capital retreats, technology integration trends persist. Once favored by capital, unmanned retail has seen a wave of shutdowns. Some traditional stores are leveraging technology to enhance consumer experiences. The trend of integrating new technology with retail is irreversible, but digital transformation should return to retail fundamentals, focusing on convenience and quality products. At 11:30 on December 27, 2019, a milk tea shop on the first floor of Zhonghai Plaza, Guanghua East Li, Chaoyang District, Beijing, had a long queue, while an unmanned supermarket across the street was relatively quiet. This was prime time for office workers to dine and shop, yet only four people entered the supermarket in 20 minutes. Unmanned operations, "scan and go," big data predicting consumption habits, intelligent anti-theft recognition systems... These high-tech features made unmanned retail shine in 2017. Now, two years later, as a new favorite in the retail sector, unmanned retail still leaves an impression mainly at the technological level. Recently, there have been continuous reports of closures. What is the current state of this once-trendy industry? Is it truly unattended? Are the closures a reshuffling or a demise? Where is it headed? **-01- **First Unmanned Retail Stores in Multiple Cities Close The unmanned vending supermarket on Xinji Donghe Road in Ningbo, which was the first unmanned supermarket in Beilun District, closed at the end of November last year after seven months of operation. Moreover, the first unmanned retail stores in Wuxi, Jinan, and other cities have also announced closures. The closures of these first unmanned retail stores have dimmed the glory of unmanned retail that arrived with capital and technology in 2017. 2017 was called the "first year of unmanned retail" by industry insiders. Overnight, unmanned shelves appeared on streets in many cities, and many unmanned supermarkets opened with great fanfare. However, the good times did not last. In 2017, Shanghai's first unmanned convenience store, BingoBox, reported closure. In February 2018, Chengdu's unmanned shelf project GOGO Xiaochao was exposed to have stopped operations. In April last year, Guangzhou's unmanned retail store Aishiduo on Xinhepu Road suddenly closed... A large number of unmanned retail ventures collapsed. According to media investigations, some unmanned supermarkets have even been converted into regular supermarkets, including those under well-known e-commerce platforms. **-02- **Unmanned is Novel, but Convenience Matters More Regarding the wave of closures, industry insiders point out that for consumers, compared to the degree of automation and the "tech feel" of the shopping process, they care more about the overall consumer experience. Current unmanned retail stores differ from ordinary convenience stores only in the absence of staff; other aspects remain largely unchanged. The core of unmanned retail should not be unmanned, but convenience and products. On the evening of December 30, 2019, a reporter saw at an unmanned shelf outside a residential area in Dingfuzhuang, Chaoyang District, Beijing, that the yogurt sold there was more expensive than at nearby convenience stores. "This hardly makes me want to buy," said a passerby. Additionally, technical issues in unmanned retail stores sometimes lead to poor consumer experiences. The owner of the first unmanned retail store in Ningbo mentioned that once, due to a system update delay, the machine did not respond at 3 a.m., trapping a consumer inside. In this regard, Liu Xia, associate professor of marketing at Shandong University of Finance and Economics, said that unmanned retail currently has many problems and disadvantages. Although labor costs are reduced, operational costs inevitably increase. Moreover, issues of item loss and technical reliability have not been well resolved. Some industry insiders believe that while unmanned retail seems to have cost advantages in rent and labor, in reality, overall operational costs are high. The automatic identification equipment and the operating systems built with AI and big data require high upfront investment, and maintenance costs are not small. The retreat of capital has dealt a fatal blow to unmanned retail. A venture capital insider said that investors have gradually realized that blindly expanding unmanned retail projects cannot achieve a balance among scene fit, restocking costs, and user fit, making large-scale financing unsustainable. Capital is returning to rationality and no longer investing blindly. **-03- **Many Supermarkets and Stores Implement Self-Checkout While the unmanned retail industry faces a wave of closures, some new unmanned retail stores are opening. New stores have started operations in Hangzhou, Chuzhou, Lu'an, and other places. In addition to fully unmanned retail stores, some traditional stores are also leveraging technology to enhance consumer experiences. A reporter's visits to stores like China Resources Vanguard and Decathlon in Beijing found that self-checkout is becoming standard. Cashiers at these supermarkets expressed willingness to help consumers understand and try self-checkout. "If the checkout line is long, self-checkout is very convenient," said a consumer shopping at a Decathlon store in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The reporter observed that when consumers place items in a shopping basket, the screen automatically displays the item details and prices, and they can pay by scanning a QR code. In this regard, some commentators point out that the trend of integrating new technology with retail is irreversible, and a life with increasing tech-savvy is bound to accelerate. Unmanned supermarkets and unmanned shelves still have broad development space. According to data from a consulting company, the market size of unmanned convenience stores in China reached 1.1 billion yuan in 2018 and is expected to reach 3.3 billion yuan in 2020. Tang Jun, co-executive president of the Shenzhen IoT Intelligent Technology Application Association, wrote that unmanned convenience stores have only sounded the clarion call for digital transformation of traditional convenience stores. Only by returning retail to retail, returning to the essence of retail, and providing transformative changes for retail efficiency and effectiveness can one become the king of future retail. Source: Workers' Daily Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan upon adoption of the report.