How does a coffee shop without a clerk earn 15% more every day?

According to media reports, a credit information agency experimented with "unmanned supermarkets" in Beijing and Hangzhou on June 6. There is no salesperson in the supermarket, shopping and payment are all done by customers themselves. It is up to the customer to decide whether or not to pay and how much to pay, even if someone takes something and leaves without any hindrance.

What was the result?

In an experiment in an "unmanned supermarket" in Beijing, three women took expensive goods without paying, while others went back and forth several times, took away several bags of expensive alcohol and tobacco and paid only 10 yuan.

In Hangzhou, after a whole day of unmanned operation, the convenience store found that on the 6th, a total of 16700 yuan of goods were sold, and the self-service payment received by customers was about 13700 yuan. There was a difference of 3000 yuan between the accounts receivable and the actual collection, and the payment rate reached 82%. Of the payments received, 56% were made through Alipay and 44% in cash.

The "unmanned store" is nothing new. It has appeared in some places before, but it has not been able to continue its operation. Due to the small proportion of people who feel that they pay in full, the "unmanned supermarket" cannot make ends meet. Although there have been "unmanned stalls" and "unmanned newsstands" that have lasted for many years in some places, they can survive for a long time, mainly because of the small value of goods, the remoteness of the stalls, the service objects for neighbors, and so on. In the environment of acquaintance society, the cost of violating integrity is relatively high, and ordinary people do not have to damage their credibility for a few yuan.

Is it necessary to charge less if there is no supervision? Of course, there are exceptions.

In the United States, there is a coffee shop called The Vault in a small town called VallyCity. This coffee shop is an unmanned coffee shop based on trust, which was established in August 2014. According to founder David and Kimberly Brekke and his wife, more than 15 per cent of the money was received in the first seven months of opening.

How do they do it?

The mechanism is very important, pay by experience: there is a saying called "Likeabook,giveadollar.Loveabook,givefive." Pay by experience, and customers often pay for the experience. This seems to be a bit like the reward mechanism in the Internet mind.

Give customers a sense of stickiness and belonging: many people regard this as the living room of a small town, because as long as they buy a cup of coffee here, they can stay as long as they want. Many old people, housewives, young men and women use this place as a meeting place and come here without a waiter, because there is no sense of restraint.

Another attraction is that there are activities such as movie screenings and music appreciation every week, as well as artists showing some of their works here.

When more and more loyal members repeat spending, the situation of not paying will be less and less. When more and more locals say this is the "living room of the town", profitability is no longer a problem.

Source: commercial and real estate