You can't spell Retail without AI
Sean Sands
Professor, Marketing | Associate Dean, Research at Swinburne University of Technology
A key focus at the 2018 NRF has been AI and its role in supplementing the retail experience.
Several sessions have focused the topic, with my favourite new retail catch phase, “you can’t spell retail without AI” the title of a Salesforce Big Idea session at NRF. The consensus seems to be that AI will transform the consumer experience, and when infused throughout the shopper journey, AI has the power to separate the leaders from laggards in retail.
But retailers have been slow to invest in AI, and I agree with Joe Jensen, (VP and GM of the retail solutions division at Intel) that retailers face tremendous pressure to meet quarterly sales and profit targets, which ultimately drives down investment in new tech.
Retailers should embrace AI as a tool that can solve business problems, but according to Michelle Bacharach (co-founder and CEO of FindMine) AI should not be an end in itself - “If you start there, you’ve already failed,” she advised. “It’s a means to an end to solve a problem.”
In essence, the use cases for AI are vast, but are generally discussed in terms of: Sales and CRM, Customer Recommendations, Manufacturing, Logistics and Delivery, and Payments.
Perhaps the AI revolution in retail isn’t happening in 2018, but looking at the tech coming to market and conversations being had – it will happen. I can’t wait to see what unfolds!
Digital Product Owner at Kmart Australia Limited
6 年Artificial intelligence has an affordable and practical cousin called machine learning. Our trials at Salmat are removing manual tasks in the back office and offsetting increases in volume nicely. PM me, or google ML!!