When AI turns store associates into digital servants

I recently visited a location of a well-known upscale retailer where associates were too engrossed in their smartphones to look up at shoppers. 

A friend commented they had the same experience and when they asked the manager, they were told, “Oh, they’re clienteling.”

 First, I don’t believe that all of the employees were doing that. Second, if some were, why were the associates out on the sales floor trying to get people online to come into the store and buy from them? It made little sense. 

 In a recap of NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show, Dan Berthiaume rightly noted that AI has become "plumbing" in retail. With scores of exhibitors extolling the values of reams of information now available to be pushed to an associate’s smartphone, the sky was the limit to increasing their productivity.

However, this AI-driven micromanagement is creating exhausted, distracted associates and worse customer service. Like plumbing, these systems are now creating constant pressure on store associates – but instead of water, it's a torrent of alerts, demands, and digital surveillance.

 When AI Becomes the Manager

 I visited one vendor at the NRF Big Show that was enamored with call buttons requiring an associate to respond within 45 seconds or another would go out. The associate had to acknowledge in the app that they were on it; if they were called over by someone else, they had to note in the app. 

If no one came within 1.5 minutes, the manager was also alerted. The associates had to constantly be at the beck and call of the app, proving they were complying with what the AI kept telling them.

How does customer service get worse? By having your associates tethered to device notifications.

A recent shocking statistic from cognitive research shows it takes an average of 23 minutes to refocus after an interruption. This causes unnecessary errors, more stress, difficulty in focusing attention, and inability to prioritize tasks or retain information.

It also cements your retail store associates’ limited attention to robots and away from humans. Is that what you want for your brand? 

Is that the "winning" solution to curing employee turnover and productivity? As store associates race to acknowledge alerts within 45 seconds and managers monitor their every move, the industry continues to paint a very different picture. 

AI is being heralded as an "employee's best friend," though one has to wonder what kind of friend demands constant attention and reports you to authority figures for being 90 seconds late to respond.

Burning out the sales floor 

With the false promise of needing to train less, retailers are being told employee policies, features and benefits can always be called up on their smartphone. It is "instant expertise," but what is the value-add to the shopper? 

When an associate constantly checks their device for basic product information, they're not building genuine product knowledge or developing the confidence to have natural conversations. 

The customer might as well be online.

[READ MORE: Handing belligerent customers – with better customer service]

When associates are tethered to their devices, hunting for answers that should be part of their core knowledge, they miss the subtle cues that make in-person shopping valuable. They can't build the rapport that turns first-time buyers into loyal customers because they're too busy searching for the next piece of information their AI assistant thinks they need or task.

Ironically, this technology-first approach creates the exact opposite of what retailers need: Disconnected, insecure associates who depend on their devices rather than their knowledge and instincts. 

Bob Phibbs is CEO of The Retail Doctor and founder of SalesRX.