I flew next to one of the major bank’s regional head recently (imagine, they fly economy too! :)).
After a small talk we introduced ourselves. He was fascinated by the retail industry and the tectonic shifts in both retail and consumption behaviors. It reminded him of the old days when the ATMs transformed the retail banking. Everyone those days was afraid of losing jobs to machines. Manual retail banking operations have indeed dramatically decreased, but so did the space they had to occupy. Thus, the need for smaller space and the lower cost pushed competitors to open much more “proximity” banks, greatly increasing the number of staff needed, growing the retail industry thanks to the ingenious automation.
Retail of 2023 is about sense. Seamless flow, automation and digitalization, mixed with smart cost management and nature preservation are the key ingredients in the recipe of success.