Retail in Asia

In Trends

Nestle Japan hiring 1,000 robots to sell espresso machines

Food giant Nestle said on Wednesday that its Japan unit plans to hire 1,000 robots as sales clerks at stores across the country.

The first batch of the robots – a chatty humanoid called Pepper – will report to work by the end of this year at outlets that sell coffee capsules and home espresso machines.

Pepper – which has already been at work, chatting with customers at wireless giant SoftBank’s outlets – has proved an effective marketing tool for the Japanese mobile carrier, delighting managers who put it to work collecting customer opinions.