In this short clip from IBM, you can see how e-business might turn out in the future.
I think a non-checkout grocery store is a very cool and innovative idea, personally because I hate having to wait in line to check out my bottle of water when the lady in front of me is waiting to get her 20 grocery items scanned. The way this video was scripted definitely caught the viewers’ attentions and quickly dragged us into how they want us to view this commercial. As one can see, this business tactic will speed up the check-out lines, cause less convenience for both the customers and the company itself. A self-scanning checkout machine will probably save the company quite a bit of labour money as well.
The biggest downside to implementing these machines into stores will most likely be the price of installing it. How much money will it take to put these machines into grocery stores that earns money over the long run? How long will it take to earn back the profits to cover the costs to install it?
But I want to raise another question: are we relying too much on technology? A prime example of relying too much on technology happened to me a few days ago on the Canada Line, where the skytrain malfunctioned for about a twenty minutes. In just twenty minutes, it was enough to cause huge line-ups at all stations because of the train cars had to stop. That day wasn’t a rush hour time when people had to rush home to spend time with their families, but it was a weekend, and it stalled the plans that people originally made. Once again, innovative technology is not necessarily a bad thing, but we need to know alternative routes we can take, and not over-rely on only one source.