Lawson Introduces Remote Worker from Sweden for Night Shift
- tech360.tv
- Jan 2, 2025
- 2 min read
Lawson, a leading company, is revolutionising customer service by employing remote workers from overseas to operate digital avatars. These avatars will support customers in multiple Lawson stores in Japan during late-night and early-morning hours. The first avatar, managed by a Japanese resident in Sweden, is set to launch in January. This innovative approach, capitalising on the eight-hour time difference, aims to boost efficiency by tapping into skilled workers in different time zones. Lawson's President, Sadanobu Takemasu, plans to extend this program to countries like Brazil and New York, leveraging significant time zone variances.
The introduction of remote workers residing abroad marks a significant milestone for Lawson. The avatars will play a crucial role in guiding customers through self-checkout processes, ensuring a smooth and efficient shopping experience during off-peak hours. Equipped with devices provided by the company, these remote workers will control the avatars, replicating employees' movements through the device cameras. Takemasu anticipates that the avatars will drive the adoption of self-checkouts, reducing the time store employees spend on register duties by over 1.5 hours per store on average.
Lawson launched its customer service avatars in 2022 in partnership with Avita, a tech company based in Tokyo. Currently, approximately 70 employees are operating as avatar operators as of the end of November. These avatars are available in 28 stores across locations such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka prefecture. The implementation of avatars is seen as a solution to the labor shortage affecting convenience stores, which often operate 24/7. A Nikkei survey revealed that 62.5% of convenience store operators faced challenges in finding an adequate number of part-time staff last fiscal year.
Lawson pioneers remote worker approach with digital avatars for customer service
Avatars operated by remote workers overseas to enhance efficiency during off-peak hours
Collaboration with tech company Avita to introduce avatars in multiple stores
Source: JAPAN REFERENCE
