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From Metrics to Meaning: Insights from a Mixed-Methods Field Experiment on Retail Robot Deployment

Sichao Song, Yuki Okafuji, Takuya Iwamoto, Jun Baba, Hiroshi Ishiguro

TL;DR

This study investigates how a service robot deployed at the entrance of a high-touch retail store affects customer behavior and frontline staff actions. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, it compares Baseline, Robot-only, and Robot+Fixture conditions, combining video-annotated funnel metrics with post-deployment clerk interviews to explain observed patterns. The findings show that while robot presence increases stopping, downstream clerk-led engagement declines, a pattern explained by entrance anchoring, timing Non-intrusion, and triadic role division; the fixture amplifies visibility but can create a threshold space that hinders interior progression. The authors propose actionable handoff cues, explicit role delineation, and doorway staging guidelines to balance attention gains with interior conversion, offering practical guidance for deploying service robots in high-touch retail contexts.

Abstract

We report a mixed-methods field experiment of a conversational service robot deployed under everyday staffing discretion in a live bedding store. Over 12 days we alternated three conditions--Baseline (no robot), Robot-only, and Robot+Fixture--and video-annotated the service funnel from passersby to purchase. An explanatory sequential design then used six post-experiment staff interviews to interpret the quantitative patterns. Quantitatively, the robot increased stopping per passerby (highest with the fixture), yet clerk-led downstream steps per stopper--clerk approach, store entry, assisted experience, and purchase--decreased. Interviews explained this divergence: clerks avoided interrupting ongoing robot-customer talk, struggled with ambiguous timing amid conversational latency, and noted child-centered attraction that often satisfied curiosity at the doorway. The fixture amplified visibility but also anchored encounters at the threshold, creating a well-defined micro-space where needs could ``close'' without moving inside. We synthesize these strands into an integrative account from the initial show of interest on the part of a customer to their entering the store and derive actionable guidance. The results advance the understanding of interactions between customers, staff members, and the robot and offer practical recommendations for deploying service robots in high-touch retail.

From Metrics to Meaning: Insights from a Mixed-Methods Field Experiment on Retail Robot Deployment

TL;DR

This study investigates how a service robot deployed at the entrance of a high-touch retail store affects customer behavior and frontline staff actions. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, it compares Baseline, Robot-only, and Robot+Fixture conditions, combining video-annotated funnel metrics with post-deployment clerk interviews to explain observed patterns. The findings show that while robot presence increases stopping, downstream clerk-led engagement declines, a pattern explained by entrance anchoring, timing Non-intrusion, and triadic role division; the fixture amplifies visibility but can create a threshold space that hinders interior progression. The authors propose actionable handoff cues, explicit role delineation, and doorway staging guidelines to balance attention gains with interior conversion, offering practical guidance for deploying service robots in high-touch retail contexts.

Abstract

We report a mixed-methods field experiment of a conversational service robot deployed under everyday staffing discretion in a live bedding store. Over 12 days we alternated three conditions--Baseline (no robot), Robot-only, and Robot+Fixture--and video-annotated the service funnel from passersby to purchase. An explanatory sequential design then used six post-experiment staff interviews to interpret the quantitative patterns. Quantitatively, the robot increased stopping per passerby (highest with the fixture), yet clerk-led downstream steps per stopper--clerk approach, store entry, assisted experience, and purchase--decreased. Interviews explained this divergence: clerks avoided interrupting ongoing robot-customer talk, struggled with ambiguous timing amid conversational latency, and noted child-centered attraction that often satisfied curiosity at the doorway. The fixture amplified visibility but also anchored encounters at the threshold, creating a well-defined micro-space where needs could ``close'' without moving inside. We synthesize these strands into an integrative account from the initial show of interest on the part of a customer to their entering the store and derive actionable guidance. The results advance the understanding of interactions between customers, staff members, and the robot and offer practical recommendations for deploying service robots in high-touch retail.
Paper Structure (26 sections, 3 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 26 sections, 3 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Research Objectives (ROs)
  3. Contributions
  4. Methodology
  5. Mixed-Methods Approach
  6. Service Robot System
  7. Fixture
  8. Field Experiment Design
  9. Post-Experiment Interview Study
  10. Data Handling
  11. Findings
  12. Quantitative Analysis
  13. Qualitative Analysis
  14. Theme overview.
  15. T1. Entrance anchoring raises stopping but limits progression.
  16. ...and 11 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Service robot system (robot, base, and display).
  • Figure 2: Fixture used for entrance staging (robot platform, acrylic top for sample, and storage).
  • Figure 3: Integrative chain. Attract (robot-led) raises stopping at the entrance; progression depends on a clear Handoff to clerk-led evaluation. Without it, many encounters close at the entrance. Metric mapping: Stopping per passerby -> Attract; Sample touch -> threshold tryability; Clerk approach / Store entry / Assisted -> Handoff & Interior; Purchase per stopper (terminal), Purchase per passerby (overall volume).