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Since the COVID-19 era, long lines have become an even bigger issue for consumers. Pure-play online retailers are predicted to achieve hastened progress due to the rising online & virtual shopping. The proliferation of IoT, AI, and social media will augur well for global market growth. Many retail vendors are enhancing their online customer-serving competencies by adopting artificial intelligence solutions. Combining analytics and big data, The Anaplan Platform helps retailers keep current customers and find new ones. Employing real-time scouring of websites, social media and other places, the company applies predictive data toward customer recommendations and forecast business outcomes.

AI-based algorithms analyze historical sales data, customer traffic, and other factors to predict future demand patterns. This allows retailers to accurately forecast staffing needs and optimize work schedules. By aligning employee schedules with expected demand, retailers manage to avoid understaffing or overstaffing, which leads to increased productivity and cost savings. In addition, AI can be used to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks to free employees up to focus on more complex and useful activities.

Optimizing Store Layout, Product Placement, and Planograms With AI

Another notable example of retail automation is clothing giant Uniqlo, whose automated checkouts don’t require staffing. This simplifies the shopping process for customers while freeing up staff to attend to customers on the shop floor. As we stand on the brink of 2024, the supply chain landscape is on the cusp of profound transformation. AI and other advanced technologies are quickly reshaping the very core of supply chain management.

To effectively implement AI, retailers will have to undertake a huge amount of housekeeping, consolidating siloed data spread across their physical and digital estates. Data will have to be maintained on an ongoing basis, enabling up-to-date or even real-time access to individual stores’ KPIs. This would go some way in solving the notoriously difficult quantification of physical stores’ online ‘halo effect’ in deciphering what is a sustainable (turnover) rent.

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According to a Global Market Insights study, the market for retail AI solutions that was valued at $6 billion in 2022 is expected to grow by more than 30% per year from 2023 to 2032. This primarily points at the growing popularity of AI-based solutions as well as the retailers’ critical need to keep up with the times and streamline processes to stay competitive in the marketplace. In this article, we will explore the benefits of AI technology in the retail sector and examine real-world examples of its successful implementation. For modern shoppers, customer service chatbots and personalized recommendations on most online stores have become apparent.

They say it is revealing a new reality, a reality that people can’t see without the AI. They liken it to Plato’s most famous metaphor in which prisoners who live their lives from birth chained to a wall in a cave are suddenly taken outside the cave and realize the reality they observed was only a reflection of what’s real. The authors say that the challenge of that is not unlike the creation of the industrial age; a new reality will be discovered and not all its outcomes will be good. Retailers can use this information to decide which products to continue with and which ones to discontinue. To date, retail has lagged behind more ‘AI mature’ industries, such as finance, science and the military, causing it to miss out on potentially major productivity benefits. Currently, just over a quarter of retailers (28%) regard AI a ‘top investment priority’.

With fewer shopping assistants, retailers often need help identifying different in-store activities. Although CCTV cameras help, it’s almost impossible to keep an eye on the footage all the time. Home improvement retail chain Lowes uses Fellow robots (“LoweBots”) in some locations to help customers and monitor inventory in real-time. Clarifai’s AI-powered recognition platform helps classify images, videos, audio and text plus moderate content. For other data that might evade AI’s radar, human moderators can be added to the mix for an extra degree of accuracy.

Or personalizing the display options according to customer choice is another option. The video below shows an example of the AI generated 3D models that can be implemented in product displays. Retailers see a 20% increase in promotional merchandise availability while reducing surplus levels by up to 50% as a result of using the AI-powered promotions management solution. However, at this moment, AI is not perfect, and human advisory is needed (and I believe it will always be). Automation doesn’t necessarily mean eliminating redundancies in workplaces and replacing humans with technology. Businesses are on a path where using AI is slowly going from being a choice to being a necessity if they want to stay in the game and keep up with consumers.

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Many of these issues would not be possible to identify without AI-based analytics, but they would still impact the financial safety of the company. The Customer relationship management (CRM) segment held a revenue share of more than 19.7% in 2021. The CRM segment will gain prominence with strong demand to boost customer retention and customer service. AI-powered search engines, virtual assistance, chatbots, and other solutions aid retail vendors in building loyalty and strong customer relationships.

One of its robot models, NAVii, is equipped with data capture cameras and can travel up and down building aisles to view what items are present. Alibaba uses AI for everything from augmented reality mirrors to facial recognition payment. It even developed an AI copywriting product that uses deep learning models and natural language processing and reportedly churns out as many as 20,000 lines of content per second.

The whitepaper also describes AI technology’s future development and application trends in the retail business. It demonstrates how smart retail technology in the AI era works for global merchants by looking at Hanshow’s partners in China, Japan, and Europe. The sector is changing due to the introduction of artificial intelligence in retail. Businesses are now tracking their operations to support corporate plans, deliver better results, and communicate with customers online. A growing number of smart devices and internet users, rising awareness of AI and big data and analytics, and government initiatives toward digitalization are fueling the expansion of global artificial intelligence in the retail market. So it’s only a matter of time before AI-powered checkouts, improved planograms and enhanced in-store engagement will be widely adopted to enhance the shopping experiences of customers as well as retailers.

Modern AI writing tools like ChatGPT can generate high-quality product descriptions. In many cases, they still need editing, but regarding the need to prepare tons of new product descriptions, this can save a lot of time in daily copywriters’ and marketers’ work. For example, AI-powered transaction monitoring can help retailers identify suspicious behavior and transactions, such as high-value purchases, frequent chargebacks, and purchases from unusual locations or at odd hours. This can help retailers identify potential fraudsters and take appropriate action. A well-tailored message with high-quality product information can drive sales and improve customer engagement.

The platform can generate models of future customer behaviors and deliver reports related to purchasing patterns, improving inventory management over time. Undoubtedly, we will see more AI-integrated tools in retail stores in the coming years. Along with that, they will also use the technology to enhance in-store customer experiences.

• Chatbots and virtual assistants can also support customers 24/7 by providing automated and instant responses to customer inquiries and concerns at any time of day or night.
• For instance, if you show a pattern of purchasing things at a particular time, the algorithm will pick it up.
• As atypical career paths become mainstream, the well-entrenched talent stereotypes that underpin most talent management strategies will prove a growing barrier to talent acquisition and retention.

Indian IT players have ‘sell-to’ and ‘sell-with’ partnerships with a number of global SaaS companies, ICICI Securities said in a note. Recent results of such global companies and commentaries of their managements indicate that they “exhibit a texture of stable demand, and even improvement”. Even as supply chains finally normalized back to some pre-pandemic conditions in 2023, the warehouse workforce continues to shrink.

Clients receive 24/7 access to proven management and technology research, expert advice, benchmarks, diagnostics and more. As atypical career paths become mainstream, the well-entrenched talent stereotypes that underpin most talent management strategies will prove a growing barrier to talent acquisition and retention. For example, employers will break with the stereotype of career continuity by offering job sharing, gig work or reduced hours to provide greater flexibility. To take advantage of expertise where it exists, regardless of tenure, organizations will break the mold of a step-by-step progressive career trajectory. Career Stereotypes Collapse in the Face of Workforce Change 
The traditional career path where employees rise up the ranks and retire at the peak of their career is going away. Workers are also facing involuntary disruption to careers due to economic cycles, displacement during conflict and natural disasters, and shifting responsibilities as technology and business models evolve.

The future of AI in the retail industry will increase as collaboration between retailers and technology companies drives innovation and growth in the industry. AI can also help analyse patterns of past customer behaviour to develop better guidelines for customer experiences in the future. This will allow better product recommendation or more optimised purchasing processes. Artificial intelligence in the retail industry is helping to automate many of the tasks that specialists used to do manually, therefore employees spend less time on repetitive and time-consuming tasks. As a result, they are able to put their effort into more customer-focused assignments. AI-assisted work is also more reliable, as it eliminates the risk of a human error occurring while performing such tasks as invoice processing.

• Retailers are scrambling to become more attractive to a diverse younger consumer and retain talented employees during their busiest times, and that is only expected to grow in 2024.
• Marketers must create visually digestible content and substantial digital communities to keep this generation engaged.
• Anaplan’s predictive insights have been used for sales and supply chain targeting by companies such as AWS and Coca-Cola.
• Then, it’s time to fill up the information required to process the return, which can be done with the help of NLP.

Read more about AI in Retail Industry here.