How Retail Brands Can Cut Through the AI Vendor Noise

As you read this, business leaders across virtually every industry are dealing with the exact same problem: a deluge of sales calls, cold emails, and sketchy LinkedIn pitches from artificial intelligence vendors vying for even a sliver of your attention. For executives in the retail space it can feel like every platform, tool, and quirky startup is promising to boost your bottom line with the help of AI. There are plenty to choose from, and the challenge has moved from finding AI solutions to figuring out which ones are even worth your time to consider.

I’ve seen plenty from both sides of the vendor-retailer relationship — from great SaaS products that struggle to find footing to executives who are paralyzed at the thought of choosing, and especially choosing wrong. What I’ve seen consistently is that retailers that rush into AI partnerships without a clear framework to vet the options routinely end up with expensive pilot programs that never scale. The ones that approach vendor selection with discipline? They tend to get real results.

Here's what that discipline looks like in practice.

1. Start with your problem, not their product.

You can’t solve a problem that you can’t adequately define. Sit down and get clear on the specific correction you’re hoping to make. Is it inventory forecasting? Personalization at scale? Customer service bottlenecks?

AI can indeed help, but it’s not a panacea. An AI platform that is purpose-built for supply chain optimization and one designed to optimize and automate marketing are completely different animals. If a vendor can't quickly and clearly explain how their product solves your specific problem — not retail in general or a vague adjacent use case — that's a signal they either don't understand your business or their product isn't actually a fit.

2. Ask to see real retail deployments.

Every vendor loves to talk about case studies, but those are best-case examples that are curated, controlled, and may not even fit your industry. Seek out direct access to reference customers operating within retail specifically, not just an adjacent industry. A vendor with a proper roster of customers willing to speak about their experiences and answer questions around implementation and overall satisfaction will have no problem providing those contacts. Vendors that resist or routinely opt for clients outside of your vertical should be treated as a red flag.

3. Probe the data requirements.

AI has a habit of looking very flashy on the surface, but the truth is that the technology is only as good as the data feeding it. Before you sign on the dotted line, understand exactly what the data requirements are of the tool or platform you’re considering. Carefully curated sandbox demos will always look great, but real-world implementation is a different story.

Ask questions to find out who owns the data that enters the platform, how it’s protected, and what happens to that information if you decide to leave. Retailers still operating on legacy systems might find out mid-implementation that their shiny new AI solution requires a level of data curation that they simply do not have. That’s a conversation that should happen long before contracts are drawn.

4. Evaluate the team, not just the tech.

The AI market right now is absolutely flooded with similar tools and platforms that often do pretty much the same things. The difference in whether your partnership with one of them succeeds or fails can come down to the people on the other side. Therefore, take the time to get to know them.

Who will be leading implementation on the vendor’s end? What does the support picture look like in month one vs. the six-month mark? How does the vendor handle problems, from mundane bugs to all-hands-on-deck breakdowns? These answers will tell you whether you’re entering a real partnership or just renting a product.

5. Insist on a defined pilot before full commitment.

Vendors that are truly confident in their product will always welcome a structured pilot with agreed-upon success metrics. This should be a collaborative process, and it’s important to understand what the vendor believes is realistic, in addition to your own team’s needs.

Companies that resist these kinds of trials and immediately push for enterprise contracts may be giving you a preview of what kind of relationship you’ll have in the future. Are they really trying to help, learn and grow alongside you, or are you just a quick cash-in? Remember, the retail brands getting the most out of AI adoption right now are almost universally those that took a measured, gradual approach rather than diving head-first into the deep end on nothing but a promise.

The AI opportunity in retail is real, and the pressure to act is understandable. But the retailers that will get the most from this moment are the ones that slow down long enough to select the right partners. The vendors flooding your inbox are counting on urgency overriding judgment. Do not let it.

Alex Sobol is co-founder of The Millennium Alliance, a peer-to-peer executive connection platform that facilitates high-level relationships between enterprise decision-makers and technology and services companies.