Issue Retail: talent polarises as shopping bifurcates

Summary

EY sees retail splitting into two distinct shopping models, and with them two distinct kinds of workforce. On one side sits experience-driven shopping led by people and built on service and emotional connection. On the other sits transactional buying handled by algorithms and agents, where the retailer works mostly as an automated fulfilment engine. Hiring needs therefore diverge toward emotionally skilled service staff at one end and deep technical specialists at the other. Because retailers are among the largest employers anywhere, EY warns that displacing workers without moving them into new roles could erode the consumer demand the sector depends on. It also expects flexible, distributed labour, such as gig workers matched to demand peaks by cognitive platforms, to become more common.