Top 5 Jobs in Retail That Are Most at Risk from AI in Belgium - And How to Adapt

Belgian retail workers should take AI seriously: the EY European AI Barometer shows about three out of four Belgians (74%) fear AI will lead to fewer jobs while 70.9% have already used tools like ChatGPT - a sign that change is near even if only 12% say AI today reshapes daily tasks.

That gap - rising adoption, a new EU AI Act, and a wide training shortfall (over 80% of employees say employers don't provide enough AI training) - means shop-floor roles can be reshaped fast; hands-on reskilling (live workshops and job-focused courses) is the clearest safety net.

Read the EY findings and consider targeted workplace training such as Nucamp's 15-week AI Essentials for Work to learn practical AI tools, prompt-writing, and job-based skills for staying relevant in Belgian retail.

Selection of the Top 5 relied on a mix of hard signals and on-the-ground Belgian use cases: the Brussels Times summary of OECD findings flags that less than 2% of Brussels workers face high risk of job loss while almost 50% could complete tasks twice as fast with AI, so task automation potential was a primary filter; prevalence of repetitive, transaction-heavy duties (the kind found in cashiers, ticket agents and call-centre roles) was another; and concrete deployments in Belgian retail - like chatbots and WhatsApp automation in Belgian retail or visual search and virtual try-on in Belgian stores - helped identify which tasks are already being augmented.

Each role was scored by likelihood of routine-task automation, scale of customer interaction, and practical reskilling paths grounded in Belgian examples; the result: a list focused on roles where a shop-floor worker could realistically see their shift time halved unless hands-on adaptation happens soon.

Sales representatives and retail sales associates sit squarely in AI's sights because much of their daily work - personalised product suggestions, repeat explanations and routine cross‑sells - can be automated by recommendation engines and conversational systems already used in Belgian retail; Act Legal highlights how retailers deploy “personalized recommendations” and other ML tools to drive marketing & sales in the sector, while Capgemini and Avanade research show AI can cut complaints and lift sales when scaled.

In practice that means a shopper can find the right size or style in seconds with visual search and virtual try‑on, or get an instant answer via chatbot or WhatsApp automation instead of flagging down a floor salesperson (see Nucamp Solo AI Tech Entrepreneur chatbot and virtual try-on examples).

Belgian surveys make the risk clearer: many firms are adopting AI fast but workers report a big training gap, and staff prefer live workshops and job‑focused courses to stay relevant - so adapting means learning practical prompt techniques, using AI to automate stock checks and routine replies, and leaning into high‑touch skills (complex advice, upsell judgment, relationship building) that machines struggle to replicate; the EY Barometer and PwC analysis both flag training and awareness as the quickest route to turning AI from a threat into an ally in Belgium's stores.

“Although AI is becoming more prevalent in workplaces, a significant portion of our workforce has yet to embrace these technologies.” - Xavier Verhaeghe, Technology and Innovation Lead, PwC Belgium

Customer service reps and call‑centre agents in Belgium are especially exposed because the bulk of their work - order status checks, returns, password resets and basic product questions - is precisely what conversational AI, smart routing and multilingual bots do best, cutting wait times and scaling support during busy windows like the festive season; Belgian sentiment matters here too, since a national survey found more than half of Belgian consumers still feel chatbots are impersonal even as they expect rapid emotional‑recognition improvements (see Belgian consumer attitudes to AI chatbots: itDaily) (Belgian consumer attitudes to AI chatbots).

Practical adaptation means getting agents involved early, integrating the knowledge base and WhatsApp/chat automation used by local retailers (Chatbots and WhatsApp automation used by Belgian retailers), and training staff to own escalations, empathy work and complex problem‑solving while bots handle high‑volume FAQs - a shift that keeps jobs but reshapes them into higher‑value service roles; evidence from vendor case studies also shows bot-first setups can automate a large share of routine contacts, freeing agents for the conversations that really keep customers loyal (AI-generated customer support examples (Tidio case studies)).

“Lyro allows us to use the power of LLM.” - Olek Potrykus, Head of Customer Experience at Tidio

Cashiers, counter and rental clerks are squarely in AI's path because self‑checkout kiosks and mobile scan‑and‑go systems are multiplying fast - Forbes outlines a steep rise in terminals as retailers chase efficiency and lower labour costs - yet the technology shifts work rather than simply erase it: attendants end up juggling machine glitches, theft prevention and customer help, and understaffed floors can turn one person into “six check stands” worth of responsibility.

The Payments Association shows self‑checkout is now mainstream in grocery and general retail, bringing faster throughput but also higher shrinkage and more pricing disputes, while business analyses warn retailers must invest in loss‑prevention and customer support.

For Belgian workers the practical playbook is familiar: push for phased rollouts, staff training and hybrid lanes, and shift into higher‑value roles such as self‑checkout attendants, on‑floor technology troubleshooters or inventory and customer‑experience specialists; employers should back that with structured reskilling and clear job pathways (see Nucamp AI Essentials for Work syllabus for practical next steps).

The choice is not simply man versus machine but how stores reallocate human skill to the customer moments machines can't replace.

“It's like I'm one person working six check stands.” - Milton Holland, supermarket employee

Demonstrators, product promoters and in‑store hosts are especially exposed because immersive tech - AI‑powered AR/VR, smart mirrors and virtual try‑ons - can deliver polished demos, guide try‑before‑you‑buy moments and animate window displays without a human standing by; research shows AR/VR lets customers try multiple outfits or see furniture in their home in seconds and even powers interactive store navigation and branded in‑store events (see AR and VR use cases and benefits).

That doesn't mean the role vanishes overnight: the same sources show VR can train staff faster and AR needs human curators to design experiences, run promotions and handle nuanced customer conversations, so adaptation is practical - learn to operate smart mirrors and AR shopping assistants, host immersive events that machines can't personalise, and use VR training to sharpen higher‑touch sales skills.

For Belgian stores, pairing hands‑on reskilling with tools like visual search and virtual try‑on can turn a promoter into the person who runs the experience rather than being replaced by it.

Ticket agents and travel clerks in Belgium face fast, practical disruption because the travel customer journey - search, price comparison, itinerary drafts and basic re‑booking - can already be handled by AI agents and chatbots, and consumers are signalling they want it: Booking.com's Global AI Sentiment Report found 89% of people want to use AI in future travel planning and included a 1,000‑person Belgium sample, so automated trip‑planning and instant price forecasting will become common touchpoints for Belgian travellers (Booking.com Global AI Sentiment Report – Belgium AI travel planning insights).

That doesn't mean the end of human roles: industry writers and vendors show AI excels at repetitive ticketing tasks but still needs supervision and human judgement for messy real‑world problems - Wired's test of agentic booking tools found agents often needed human course‑correction - and Emitrr and other vendors argue AI can free clerks from routine work so they can focus on complex exceptions, multilingual help and persuasive upsells (Wired test of agentic AI booking tools and human oversight, Emitrr guide to AI assistants for travel customer service).

Practical adaptation for Belgian counter staff is clear: learn to supervise and validate AI outputs, own escalations and rebooking negotiations, master dynamic‑pricing signals and multilingual chat tools, and push employers for phased rollouts and hands‑on training so the person at the desk becomes the trusted fixer when the bot gets the itinerary wrong - because travellers will still want a human who can untangle an overbooked hotel or calm a stranded family in person.

“Generative AI represents one of the most significant technological shifts of our era, fundamentally reshaping how consumers engage with the world around them.” - James Waters, Chief Business Officer at Booking.com

Practical next steps for Belgium's retail floors are urgent but straightforward: start with role‑based AI literacy and a simple inventory of every AI tool on the shop floor, then pair staff with the specific systems they'll use so training matches real risks and tasks - exactly the approach the EU AI Act and follow‑up guidance recommend (see a clear summary of Article 4 training needs at NAVEX).

Employers should form a small AI governance team, document training and phased rollouts (so cashiers, agents and promoters aren't surprised by a sudden kiosk launch), and fund hands‑on workshops or short bootcamps that teach prompt‑writing, supervision of chatbots and practical oversight.

Workers should press for staged deployments, hybrid lanes and clear escalation roles so human judgement stays central when automation stumbles. With roughly one in three European workers already using AI at work and enforcement timelines set (Member States name market authorities by Aug 2025 and supervision of Article 4 follows thereafter), acting now turns compliance risk into an opportunity; practical training options include Nucamp's 15‑week AI Essentials for Work for job‑focused, no‑technical background reskilling (AI Essentials for Work syllabus - Nucamp, Register for the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp - Nucamp).

“We want to make AI accessible - not just to coders or engineers, but to every citizen navigating the digital world.” - Giulia Carsaniga, Policy Officer, EU AI Office