The transition in retail among Multichannel, Omnichannel, and New Retail and their relationship with RFID, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Science.

We are experiencing a significant transition in retail. Transitions typically occur through the coexistence of paradigms or strategies. This applies to human resource management, project management, financial management, technology, change management, customer management, etc. However, specifically concerning Operational Frameworks applied to retail, it is possible to understand signals or elements of each of the main strategies currently coexisting, giving rise to the so-called "New Retail," still in its infancy but poised to significantly transform not only customer relationships but also companies.

Firstly, it is necessary to briefly conceptualize these operational strategies applied to retail:

• A multichannel strategy in retail refers to a business approach where a retailer sells its products or services through multiple channels, such as physical stores, online platforms (website or app), mobile, social media, catalog, telephone, and any other available means of reaching customers.
• An omnichannel approach in retail is a comprehensive strategy that focuses on providing customers with a seamless and integrated shopping experience across all available channels, whether online or offline. This strategy aims to unify the customer experience, regardless of the channel used for interaction, purchase, or service.
• The "New Retail" approach in the retail industry refers to a modernized strategy that integrates online and offline shopping experiences by leveraging advanced technologies and innovative concepts. Coined by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, "New Retail" represents a transformational shift in the retail landscape, blurring the boundaries between digital and physical retail.

Several factors are essential for understanding how these approaches will significantly impact retailers. Firstly, the competition from globalized retail, especially Chinese, which already operates in key markets. Unlike traditional retailers that have experienced these transitions in approaches, Asian competition has already implemented the essential mechanisms of the so-called New Retail, either since its inception or rapidly implemented approaches, mainly focusing on complete integration of online and offline channels, omnichannel operations, personalized experiences based on user data, and the use of artificial intelligence technologies.

Specifically concerning infrastructure, this approach has Artificial Intelligence (AI) as its foundation rather than an added technology. The American online retail, for instance, a reference in recent decades, incorporates AI functionalities into its platforms and technologies. It is a different paradigm to be born under an artificial intelligence infrastructure. Here, we can already perceive the imaginable impact of such an approach, not only on retail but in any digital ecosystem. Just as it is currently possible to create an e-commerce platform using available platforms that facilitate and streamline its implementation, soon there will be tools that are born within an artificial intelligence infrastructure (or even created by artificial intelligence).

It is of fundamental importance that retailers review their operational framework and understand how distant they are from this New Retail concept. The capabilities that new platforms, especially Chinese ones, offer (not mentioning product prices) create a significant competitive disadvantage. Measures need to be adopted to approach this, and I believe that artificial intelligence, when applied in retail, previously developed by these major Chinese and global retailers and e-commerce companies, will be available to everyone, just like other technologies. Today, any retailer can implement an omnichannel strategy, and it will be the same with artificial intelligence and data science applied to business. Many suppliers will provide such technologies to retailers, whether they are small, medium, or large. AI will be democratized.

Bringing this context to RFID, it paves the way for implementing information quality at the item level, allowing a vast amount of data to be analyzed and information generated for decision-making. Therefore, the reverse path will also be required by artificial intelligence because it will have to deal with accurate information about products in the supply chain and with a high level of accuracy. AI will demand information on available stocks in each location and in transit. Reducing inventory costs will be a significant objective, aiming to optimize this cost. Network logistics, which paves the way from modernizing multichannel to omnichannel, will be improved to meet the needs of more demanding customers, comparing their experiences to companies already operating under a New Retail framework.

Hence, identification technologies will experience exponential growth in my view. Essentially, today, only the fashion retail widely adopts RFID, but there are several sectors that have not yet experienced such technology and will seek to solve basic problems. An interesting parallel is understanding how telecommunications networks have developed in recent years with the mass adoption of smartphones. Customers did not wait for 4G to be available to have the latest phones. The network came later. Artificial intelligence will drive a wide variety of existing technologies. RFID is no different.