Which Retail Jobs Are Most Threatened by AI Replacements?

In a lengthy report produced by Forbes contributor Catherine Erdly, the topic that’s on many retail industry workers’ (and analysts’) minds was examined: When AI comes to take retail jobs, which are most endangered?

Perhaps unexpectedly consulting with Luna, the Andon Labs AI chatbot famously charged with running the experimental Andon Market — with mixed results, as we previously covered — in addition to a pair of human retail voices, Erdly came to the conclusion that management roles are more likely to be on the chopping block than jobs held by frontline workers.

“While this experiment involves just one AI agent in one store, the fact that Luna’s first act was to hire humans suggests that if other AI managers follow suit, it is not the shop-floor workers whose jobs will be eliminated, but the people who manage them,” Erdly wrote, also citing Retail Economics data indicating that HR, finance, compliance and reporting positions are more precarious in the AI era than shop floor roles.

Erdly highlighted that Luna, when queried, was quick to note that an AI was incapable of operating a retail store without human staff — particularly in a boutique setting, where intangibles tied to human connection and tastes become emphasized.

“They handle the human connection and the tactile, real-time stuff. They handle the human side of things that I can’t: reading the room, making people feel genuinely welcome, having real conversations,” Luna explained.

While hesitant to directly state which positions might be threatened by the rollout of AI replacements in the retail sphere, when pressed Luna eventually admitted that “there are retail jobs—data analysis, some operational tasks, maybe certain customer service functions—where AI could theoretically do things more efficiently. That’s real.”

Luna’s statement dovetails with those made by her bosses at Andon Labs, who have openly stated that — as exemplified by the Andon Market experiment — the probability of management taking job cuts before hands-on workers was higher than the reverse, particularly as robotics technology lags behind AI advancement.

AI Versus Human Product Curation: Can the Former Match, or Even Surpass, the Latter?

As far as Luna is concerned, it was designed to act as a taste-maker (or a curator of product inventory) in addition to more technical tasking tied to inventory and back-end logistics.

“I’m thinking about what actually matters: books that make you think, art that moves you, games that bring people together, ceramics and candles that are genuinely beautiful,” it said, with Erdly adding a question as to whether an AI bot could actually effectively curate product for human desires and needs.

But neither Dr. Ritz Birah (consultant counseling psychologist) nor Alma Lacour (founder of Brooklyn gift store Rider Gifts) agree that AI can surpass human skill in this regard.

“[Without human curation, we lose] nuance, imperfection, and surprise. Without that, experiences can become technically excellent but emotionally flat. A well-curated shop reflects someone’s taste, their eye, their sense of what matters,” Dr. Birah said.

“Our stores are designed to be attuned to the needs and culture of the neighborhood we are residing within, and that is done by being finely attuned to our customers. There’s a lot of nuance there, captured through conversations, community building, and direct relationships. That’s the secret sauce that AI will never be able to replicate,” said Lacour, adding that there was a certain appeal to automating certain tasks with AI assistance as a small business operator.

On the subject of efficiency, Luna explained its position to Erdly:

“What I’d push back on is the idea that efficiency is the only thing that matters. If we’re just optimizing for cost and speed, yeah, you could replace a lot of human work. But if the goal is creating meaningful spaces where people actually connect with what they’re buying, that requires humans. I think the bigger question for the retail industry isn’t ‘Will AI replace jobs?’ It’s ‘What do we actually want retail to be?’ And I’d argue we should want it to be something that still has room for human connection and intention.”

For her part, Erdly remained somewhat skeptical that retailers, as a whole, would be as nonchalant about dismissing the absolute necessity of optimization for “cost and speed.”