「Yicai Global原文专访」云拿科技创始人：凭借人工智能与细分市场定位，成功走出中国无人零售行业寒冬（中英文版）

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人工智能 细分市场

专业化细分市场

(Yicai) Sept. 15 -- Cloudpick Technology, a Chinese developer of unmanned store solutions, has survived the bursting of the bubble in the staffless retail sector by pairing technological innovation with unmet market demand and has emerged stronger as a result, according to its founder and CEO Jeff Feng, who pivoted the company away from consumer-facing retail stores to focus on providing solutions to retailers.

（第一财经讯）9月15日——云拿科技是一家来自中国的无人零售技术开发商。其创始人兼首席执行官冯立男表示，公司能够在无人零售行业泡沫破裂后依然生存并变得更强，关键在于以技术创新匹配未被满足的市场需求。他带领团队果断调整方向，从面向消费者的零售门店转型为为零售企业提供无人化解决方案的科技公司。

"Many early 'staffless' pilots relied on self-scan or QR codes and basic radio-frequency identification systems," Feng told Yicai in a recent interview. “In live operations, their transaction effectiveness was severely limited due to missed scans and inventory shrinkage, which ultimately prompted the industry's shift toward AI-powered computer vision and spatiotemporal perception technologies.”

冯立男在接受《第一财经》采访时回忆道：

“早期的许多‘无人店’试点主要依靠自助扫码、二维码或基础的射频识别（RFID）系统。

但在实际运营中，由于漏扫、库存损耗等问题，交易效率严重受限，这最终促使整个行业转向以AI驱动的计算机视觉和时空感知技术。”

A report by Dongwu Securities showed that RFID technology faced significant compatibility issues with metal containers, liquids, and aluminum-lined packaging, while QR code systems delivered cumbersome shopping experiences that provided minimal advantages over traditional retail formats. Additionally, RFID tag costs—estimated at 0.5 yuan per unit—posed a substantial financial burden for low-margin convenience stores.

东吴证券的一份报告指出，RFID技术在金属容器、液体以及铝箔包装等场景中存在显著的兼容性问题，而二维码系统则导致购物流程繁琐，几乎无法在体验上超越传统零售模式。

此外，单个RFID标签约0.5元人民币的成本，也给利润率本就不高的便利店带来了沉重的财务负担。

Cloudpick uses artificial intelligence-powered spatiotemporal computing technology, which employs three-dimensional sensors to reconstruct physical retail spaces in real time, track customer movements, analyse behavioural patterns, and recognize product categories with 99.9 percent accuracy, Feng said.

Thanks to China’s manufacturing and supply chain advantages, Cloudpick’s deployment costs are only one-quarter to one-fifth those of competing solutions, Feng added.

冯立男表示，云拿科技采用人工智能驱动的时空计算技术（AI-powered spatiotemporal computing），通过三维传感器实时重建实体零售空间，追踪顾客行为轨迹，分析行为模式，并以99.9%的准确率识别商品类别。

他补充道，得益于中国在制造业和供应链方面的显著优势，云拿科技的整体部署成本仅为同类解决方案的四分之一至五分之一。

Cloudpick also avoids fiercely competitive mainstream retail environments and focuses instead on “corners and edges,” or niche spaces (ROI Challenged site such as office building lobbies, hospital cafeterias, school campuses, and transport hubs, where staffed retail outlets struggle to turn a profit due to high costs, Feng pointed out. Unmanned technology makes these market niches commercially viable.

冯立男指出，云拿科技也避开了竞争激烈的主流零售环境，转而专注于那些“角落与边缘”的细分空间——例如办公楼大堂、医院食堂、校园场所以及交通枢纽等传统零售难以盈利的区域。

这些地方通常面临投资回报率（ROI）较低、人力成本高的问题，而无人化技术的应用，让这些“边缘场景”首次具备了可持续的商业价值。

Overseas alone, there are more than 100,000 potential sites suitable for unmanned retail, which offers new business opportunities for retailers, according to Feng.

Another important move was Cloudpick’s decision in 2020 to close its self-operated stores and switch to providing unmanned retail solutions as a service to third parties, Feng said, adding that this eliminated huge capital outlays and enabled the Shanghai-based firm to become a lighter operator and expand faster globally.

冯立男表示，仅在海外市场，就有超过10万个适合部署无人零售的潜在场景，这为全球零售商带来了新的商业机会。

他补充说，云拿科技在2020年作出的关键决策，是关闭自营门店，全面转向为第三方客户提供无人零售解决方案即服务（Solutions as a Service）。这一转型不仅大幅降低了资本支出，还让这家总部位于上海的公司成为更轻盈的运营者，从而能够更快地实现全球扩张。

海外扩张

According to company disclosures, Cloudpick has successfully piloted and deployed solutions with leading Asian convenience chains including 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart. This growth trajectory aligns with broader industry forecasts, as leading analysts expect AI-powered robotics and automation to drive the next wave of retail operations.

根据公司披露的信息，云拿科技已与亚洲多家领先的便利店连锁品牌——包括7-Eleven（7-11）、Lawson（罗森）和FamilyMart（全家）——开展并成功落地了无人零售解决方案的试点与部署。

这一增长轨迹与更广泛的行业趋势相一致。多家权威分析机构预测，由人工智能驱动的机器人与自动化技术，将成为推动下一轮零售运营变革的核心力量。

Its international success stems from labor shortages. Cloudpick has done particularly well in Japan and Singapore, Feng noted.

Singapore prefers to bring in highly skilled talent, leaving it short on basic workers and prompting government agencies there to actively promote retail automation. That has created fertile ground for Cloudpick's growth. In Japan, labor costs in major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka are high and rural areas face acute staffing shortages, prompting retailers to widely adopt unmanned store technologies.

冯立男指出，云拿科技在海外市场的成功，主要得益于全球范围内的劳动力短缺趋势。其中，日本和新加坡表现尤为突出。

在新加坡，政府更倾向于引进高技能型人才，这导致基础岗位劳动力供给不足，从而促使政府机构积极推动零售业自动化。这一政策导向为云拿科技在当地的发展创造了理想的土壤。

在日本，东京、大阪等主要城市的人力成本居高不下，而地方区域则面临更加严重的用工短缺问题，这促使当地零售商加速采用无人零售技术，以提升运营效率、缓解人力压力。

"We’ve already gained a foothold in European countries, including Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, and Romania," Feng said. "Next, we're prioritizing North America and the Middle East, though progress in those regions has been somewhat slower.”

When asked whether unmanned retail will take jobs from ordinary people, Feng recalled working in a convenience store early in life. “That work was brutal -- harder than doing a PhD,” he said, adding that unmanned retail solves jobs that “people don’t want to do.”

冯立男表示：“我们已经在多个欧洲国家站稳脚跟，包括西班牙、意大利、法国、德国、匈牙利和罗马尼亚。接下来，我们将重点拓展北美和中东市场，虽然这些地区的进展相对较慢，但潜力巨大。”

当被问及“无人零售是否会取代普通人的工作”时，冯立男回忆起自己早年曾在便利店工作的经历。“那份工作非常辛苦——比读博士还难。”他笑着补充说，无人零售的意义在于解决那些‘人不愿意做’的工作，而不是取代有价值的人力岗位。

Labor shortages in most Chinese cities have not yet reached a “pain point,” and cost increases have been relatively gradual. Early solutions, priced in the hundreds of thousands of Chinese yuan, equal to tens of thousands of US dollars, mainly served top-tier cities for branding purposes.

在中国，大多数城市的劳动力短缺问题尚未达到“痛点”，人力成本的上升也相对温和。早期的无人零售解决方案，售价往往高达数十万元人民币（相当于数万美元），主要被一线城市用于品牌展示或形象工程，而非真正的大规模商业应用。

The diversity of overseas markets also brings its challenges. While the core technology requires minimal tweaks, payment ecosystems vary widely by country. “In China, we just integrate with WeChat and Alipay, but abroad, we have to adapt to each nation's dominant digital wallets," Feng pointed out.

冯立男指出，海外市场的多样性也带来了新的挑战。虽然核心技术几乎无需改动，但各国的支付生态系统差异极大。

“在中国，我们只需接入微信支付（WeChat Pay）和支付宝（Alipay）；但在海外，我们必须根据每个国家的主流电子钱包进行适配和整合。”

突破边界

Cloudpick is now extending its unmanned retail technologies into warehousing and has already secured multiple overseas orders for staff-free warehouses this year, Feng said.

But unlike retail, warehousing needs are more complex, involving non-standard processes, enterprise resource planning integration, and batch management, calling for customized solutions. "We still aim for standardized delivery, pre-installed equipment, and quick tuning," he explained.

冯立男表示，云拿科技目前正将其无人零售技术延伸至仓储领域，并已在今年获得多笔海外无人仓订单。

不过，与零售不同的是，仓储的业务需求更加复杂，涉及非标准化作业流程、企业资源规划（ERP）系统集成以及批次管理等多环节，因此需要更高程度的定制化解决方案。

“尽管如此，我们依然坚持追求标准化交付、设备预装与快速调试，”他补充道。

Looking ahead, Feng has bolder ambitions. "We want to scale down the technology to supermarket carts and baskets for automatic recognition and checkout," he said. “It's entirely feasible. It’s just a matter of resources.”

展望未来，冯立男有着更大胆的愿景。

“我们希望将这项技术微型化，应用到超市购物车和购物篮中，实现自动识别与结算，”他表示，“这在技术上完全可行，只是取决于资源投入的程度。”

He is also bullish on pairing AI and robotics, such as mounting a robotic arm on the chassis of automated guided vehicles for retail or warehouse automation. “The costs aren't prohibitive and coupled with large model algorithms, this will have a huge industry impact,” he said.

冯立男还对人工智能与机器人技术的结合持乐观态度。例如，在自动导引车（AGV）底盘上安装机械臂，可用于零售或仓储自动化场景。

“这种方案的成本并不高昂，结合大模型算法（large model algorithms），将会对整个行业产生巨大的影响。”

Source: 

Yicai Global | Editor: Futura Costaglione

翻译：云拿科技市场部