Technological Change - the Retail Disruptors

Is the next logical step on from the driverless vehicle, the driverless store? It's a concept already being tested out in Shanghai.

Use an app to call up MobyMart, and a convenience store might glide up to your doorstep, ready for you to swipe your phone to enter and shop. No need for a cashier, you just swipe to pay for the goods and to exit again, before the shop moves on to the next customer.  

In spite of the massive growth in online sales, with UK households leading the world in average online spend, we do still love shopping in a store - otherwise, why would Amazon be investing in bricks-and-mortar grocery Wholefoods in the US? 

However, the concept of 'the store' is changing to embrace changes technology. "The Disruptors" is a great article which looks at how some of that technology is already working, and some of the innovations to come, and then contrasts them to Lidl's entry to the US market with 21 stores opening. Their objective there is to wean the US customers off big brands and persuade them to buy Lidl's look-alike non-brands, using economies of scale to cut costs to the bone.