Working Part-Time at a Japanese Convenience Store in Sweden? ... A Look at Lawson's Experiment

Managing Japanese Convenience Stores at Dawn Using Time Difference
Responding via Remote Work... Appearing in Avatar Form

Japan's major convenience store chain Lawson has launched an experiment to hire Japanese residents living abroad to work online.

Avatar-type employee installed at Lawson convenience store in Japan. Abita

On the 2nd, Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported that Lawson recently hired a Japanese person living in Sweden as a part-time worker (arubaito). There is about an 8-hour time difference between Sweden and Japan. Utilizing this, the new employee will be responsible for assisting customers during Japan's late-night or early morning hours. Lawson plans to recruit in regions with significant time differences from Japan, such as Brazil and New York.

The employees hired in this way will interact with customers from multiple stores via terminals installed inside Lawson convenience stores while working from home or other locations. They do not show their faces directly but appear as "avatars" to respond to customer inquiries in real time. When a customer approaches the terminal, the avatar explains how to use it.

When customers enter the store, the avatar employee greets them with "Welcome." Since they observe customers' movements through cameras attached to the monitor, they can quickly assist if customers have difficulties using the self-checkout. Customers can converse with the avatar clerk as if they were facing a real person. While their primary role is to explain how to use the unmanned checkout, they also provide answers when customers ask for "recommended products."

Since 2022, Lawson has partnered with AVITA, a Japanese avatar development company, to start related operations. As of the end of November last year, about 70 employees were working in avatar form. There are 28 such stores located in Tokyo, Osaka Prefecture, and Fukuoka Prefecture. Lawson estimates that this hiring method can reduce the checkout work time of store employees by an average of more than 1 hour and 30 minutes per store. Kazuki Tsukiuda, head of Lawson's Business Support Division, explained about working in avatar form in 2023, saying, "With avatar customer service, people of all ages and genders, or those who cannot commute due to disabilities, can work." He also announced plans to hire 1,000 avatar employees by 2025.

Convenience stores, which must operate 24 hours, are known to have difficulty securing staff. Lawson's experiment using avatars is expected to attract attention not only in convenience stores but also in other retail stores.