Snippets: the robotic future of the service sector

Service robots are crossing the chasm between science fiction literature and everyday life. It is expected that the market for "humanoid robots will be valued at $3.9 Billion in 2023, growing at a staggering 52.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2017 and 20231. Of all the types of humanoid robots, bipedal robots are expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecasted period." *

In a previous post we discussed briefly the impact of service robots on CX. A recently published study in the Journal of Marketing investigated how consumers react when serviced by robots. The major findings were that unless they show a perfect resemblance to humans in vison and behavior, people consider service robots to be eerie and disturbing. As a result, when faced with such robots in consumption contexts, people react with compensatory behavior: they consume more, choose group tasks to boost social affiliation, and prefer status products over regular ones.

If you are interested in this topic, I can only recommend that you have a look at this overview of what the service revolution sparked by robots entails by Jochen Wirtz, Werner Kunz, and Stefanie Paluch: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346392669_The_Service_Revolution_Intelligent_Automation_and_Service_Robots

You will get a thorough understanding of the differences between human and robot delivered services and important implications for practice. Robots are here to stay, but we need to me mindful of the effects their introduction will have in service encounters. This overview will kick-start your thinking on that.

Happy reading!