How does this make sense? Automation lowers prices, not margins.
The prices go down because you don’t have to pay people. If it costs the same, you don’t lower prices just because you’re using automation.
The prices go down because you don’t have to pay people. If it costs the same, you don’t lower prices just because you’re using automation.
Once LIDL's (and other discounters) customers move towards ordering on the internet, they will not queue up at the cashiers' any more and therefore the revenue with LIDL's highest-margin products - the trash & cheap alcohol that is stocked in the cashiers desk waiting area - will evaporate.
It took me a long time to understand this relationship, but while discussing this with a machine learning expert hired by LIDL it suddenly clicked: this is basically why they don't innovate further in terms of offline retail experience.
Automation is unrelated to where products are sold.
Automation might just mean one fewer cashier at a regular store.