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

AI is already reshaping retail around the world, and Turkish stores should sit up and take notice: global research from Goldman Sachs warns of a temporary rise in unemployment during the AI transition, while the World Economic Forum flags that entry-level roles - like the cashiers and floor staff that often form the backbone of Türkiye's retail workforce - are among the most vulnerable; at the same time Stanford's 2025 AI Index shows rapid tech gains and rising government attention that will accelerate adoption.

Retailers in Turkey are piloting practical tools - think visual search for guided discovery or computer‑vision systems to cut shrinkage - to speed checkout and reduce losses, but those same efficiencies can displace routine jobs unless employers invest in reskilling.

BCG's findings underline that frontline adoption jumps with modest training, so pairing real-world upskilling with clear policy can turn disruption into new career pathways instead of lost livelihoods.

Read more on the global workforce outlook at Goldman Sachs, the AI trends in the Stanford AI Index, and how computer vision is used in Turkish stores.

“A recent pickup in AI adoption and reports of AI-related layoffs have raised concerns that AI will lead to widespread labor displacement,” Joseph Briggs and Sarah Dong, Goldman Sachs Research.

This list was built by triangulating market forecasts, real‑world pilot results and vendor case studies with a focus on what applies in Türkiye: global market growth for automation signals the scale of change (the retail automation market is projected to hit USD 23.25B in 2025 and keep growing), while hands‑on pilots show how those tools actually rewire store work - Kaizen's food‑retail pilots, for example, boosted back‑of‑house productivity and cut stockouts by reorganising replenishment routes so teams spend less time on empty runs and more time with customers.

Selection criteria favoured evidence that links automation to measurable KPIs (productivity, stockouts, time saved), repeatable interventions (layout redesign, RPA, computer vision) and examples or guidance relevant to Turkish retailers - drawn from practical case studies and Nucamp's local use‑case guides on visual search and shrinkage reduction.

Jobs were ranked by exposure to routine, measurable tasks and by how easily those tasks can be automated or augmented, so the resulting list highlights both near‑term risks and the operational levers managers in Türkiye can use to shift workers into higher‑value roles; see the market forecast and optimisation pilots that underpinned this methodology for full context.

“I am constantly looking for solutions that really help us improve our internal processes. Without a doubt, Legito has allowed us to optimize processes for creating, negotiating, filing, and following‑up on the organization's contracts.” - Ignacio Roggero, Ex‑CFO, Dafiti

Cashiers and checkout operators are on the frontline of AI-driven change in Turkish stores: as retailers install more fixed self‑checkouts and Scan & Go options to cut queues and labour costs, evidence shows routine scanning and payment tasks are the most automatable - and the most exposed to shrinkage that shifts rather than vanishes.

Global studies flag stark trade‑offs: self‑checkout is now in the majority of groceries (Payments Association: grocery self-checkout prevalence data), yet research compiled by the ECR Loss research on Scan & Go errors finds that Scan & Go errors can translate to roughly 3.3% of total sales at current utilisation and that a basket of 50 items carries about a 60% chance of at least one scanning error, so losses can balloon as usage grows.

That means a role that used to prevent theft and correct mis-scans is being hollowed out unless stores reimagine it: supervisors, smarter store design, weight‑checks and video or computer‑vision tools can reduce loss while preserving customer service.

Turkish retailers should therefore pair any checkout automation rollout with visible guardianship, user-friendly design and targeted tech like computer vision for shrinkage reduction to avoid trading headcount savings for a leaky bottom line and poorer customer experience.

Floor staff in Turkish stores are being nudged away from repetitive chores and toward higher‑value roles: automation and RPA can handle routine checkout help, inventory lookups and price comparisons, while AI tools surface customer preferences in real time - so sales assistants become advisors who add empathy and product knowledge rather than just scan barcodes.

T‑ROC's retail analysis shows that many retailers already use AI and that the best outcomes come when technology frees teams to do creative, relationship‑led work, not replace them (T-ROC retail analysis on AI and automation customer experience).

In Türkiye this shift is supported by local RPA activity and consultancy playbooks: PwC Türkiye highlights analytics, RPA and targeted training (GenAI workshops, skills upskilling) as the practical route to redeploy staff into selling, omnichannel service and decision‑making roles (PwC Türkiye advanced analytics and robotic process automation report), while visual search and AR pilots - turning a phone photo into outfit suggestions - turn floor staff into personal stylists who close the sale (visual search and AR pilots for retail guided discovery and merchandising).

The practical “so what?”: with basic retraining and clear process redesign, a store can trade one headcount spent on barcode checks for an assistant who increases basket size and customer loyalty.

“We plan on leveraging the ‘triangle' of the human employee, AI and RPA. AI will be able to conduct image processing and document recognition, the robots will automate the repetitive tasks and the employee will perform tasks that require decision‑making.” - Erkut Baloğlu, Yapı Kredi

Inventory clerks and back‑of‑house replenishment teams in Türkiye are squarely in the automation spotlight: automated guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and ASRS setups are already reshaping warehouse flows so that the person who once pushed a heavy cart for miles can now work at a goods‑to‑person station handling quality checks and exceptions - boosting safety and reducing physical strain while shifting routine picking to machines.

Local market research shows this is more than theory: the Turkey supply chain automation market is pegged at roughly USD 270 million as e‑commerce and IoT adoption accelerate (Ken Research report on the Turkey supply chain automation market), and Lucintel highlights how AGVs and robotic sorting/packing systems are transforming Turkish logistics infrastructure (Lucintel report on professional service robot market in Turkey).

Global warehousing studies reinforce the trend toward

dark warehouses

, AMRs and software integration that improve accuracy and scalability but come with high upfront costs and a typical 2–3 year ROI horizon - so Turkish retailers must pair investment with retraining to convert paring backroom headcount into higher‑value roles like inventory analysts, exception handlers and robotics‑maintenance technicians (The SCXchange analysis of warehouse robotics).

The practical takeaway: automation can eliminate repetitive hauling, but the store that retrains its stockroom clerks turns potential job losses into faster fulfilment and fewer stockouts - one small training cohort can be the difference between an empty shelf and a loyal returning customer.

Customer service reps in Türkiye's retail support and BPO centres are poised for rapid change as conversational AI, real‑time analytics and smarter IVR systems take on routine calls and transactions: AI can automate FAQs, route customers by intent and summarize calls instantly so human agents spend less time on data entry and more on complex problem‑solving and relationship repair.

Local success stories show the potential - SESTEK's virtual assistants power Selim at Kuveyt Turk (handling millions of questions annually) and ViBi at Vakıfbank (driving millions of self‑service transactions), demonstrating how Turkish organisations can scale 24/7 support without eroding service quality; at the same time global reporting explains how predictive behavioural routing and live agent‑assist tools boost first‑contact resolution and lift satisfaction.

The practical “so what?” is stark: when AI trims average handling time and automates low‑value work, a trained agent becomes an experience‑orchestrator who defuses escalations, sells tactically and oversees AI quality - turning a cost centre into a revenue and loyalty engine.

Retailers should therefore pair rollouts with reskilling (agent‑assist literacy, empathy training and AI oversight) and clear KPIs so savings translate into better service, not silent churn.

“Businesses will not only benefit from reduced operational costs but will also unlock new revenue streams through personalized AI‑driven engagements… the shift will be transformative, with AI enhancing both customer satisfaction and the bottom line.” - Barry Cooper, NICE CX (quoted in CMSWire)

Price checkers and basic merchandisers in Türkiye face one of the clearest near‑term risks: automated, AI‑driven dynamic pricing and shelf‑level automation are quietly replacing routine tag‑checking and manual price edits, and Turkey already ranks as a leader in dynamic pricing adoption - local e‑commerce teams frequently adjust prices in real time to stay competitive (Decodo report: Turkey leading dynamic pricing adoption).

The practical knock‑on is familiar: a shopper's pair of sneakers can be $95 one visit and $105 the next as algorithms react to demand and competitor moves - a vivid reminder that static price boards and hourly rounds don't cut it anymore (Nimbleway article on dynamic pricing in retail (sneaker example)).

At the same time, visual‑search, AR and computer‑vision tools are turning visual merchandisers into conversion specialists who stitch styling advice, guided discovery and real‑time shelf analytics into a single customer experience - so stores that retrain price checkers into SKU analysts, AR‑assisted stylists or visual‑search curators keep sales and reduce shrinkage (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work syllabus - visual search, guided discovery & visual merchandising in retail).

The “so what?” is immediate: without retraining, a role that once caught mispriced tags risks vanishing; with modest upskilling, the same employee can lift basket value by guiding customers with digital tools and smarter price rules.

“Adopting advanced pricing intelligence solutions from Retail Scrape revolutionized our retail strategy. The Dynamic Pricing features allowed us to adapt quickly to market trends, boosting efficiency across all operations. Additionally, Real-Time Price Monitoring helped us capture immediate opportunities, driving a remarkable 38% increase in quarterly profits while maintaining high customer satisfaction.” – Chief Revenue Officer, National Electronics Retail Chain

Actionable next steps for Türkiye's retail leaders: treat automation as a paired investment - deploy tech and shore up people, policy and measurement. First, audit deployed and planned AI against the EU AI Act's extraterritorial rules (unacceptable‑risk systems such as emotion‑reading or social‑scoring are banned and non‑compliance can trigger fines up to €35M or 7% global turnover) and map any cross‑border exposures (Chambers AI Act implications for Turkish companies).

Second, align initiatives with domestic guidance (KVKK recommendations, the AI Bill trajectory and ongoing regulatory monitoring) and embed privacy‑by‑design and DPIAs for systems touching personal data (White & Case AI Watch Turkey regulatory tracker).

Third, require clear human‑in‑the‑loop rules, measurable KPIs for shrinkage, FRT risk, conversion and handling time, and run small pilots with explicit ROI windows.

Finally, pair rollouts with reskilling: short, job‑focused training helps redeploy cashiers, merchandisers and stock clerks into exception handlers, analytics or customer‑advisor roles - one small training cohort can be the difference between an empty shelf and a loyal returning customer.

For practical upskilling, consider employer pathways such as Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp registration to build prompt and tool literacy across store teams.