Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Shoptalk 2024 buzzed with innovation. One central theme emerged as the standout from the show: leveraging artificial intelligence to create a future-proof retail experience. Although the industry conversation around AI isn't new, this year marked a shift from discussing the potential of the technology to showcasing business use cases of how brands are harnessing the…

The retail industry is drowning in customer feedback. From reviews to digital surveys to in-store polls to social media posts, customer feedback is everywhere. Smart businesses know this feedback is valuable. They try to glean insights about their business based on customer feedback. The most valuable feedback is qualitative feedback, left in open text boxes…

According to IBM's 2024 Consumer Study of over 20,000 consumers across 26 countries, only 9 percent of consumers are satisfied with the in-store shopping experience. Despite the enduring presence of physical stores, this widespread discontent stems from a yearning for more seamless technology integration into consumer journeys. As retailers grapple with the implications of this…

While generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) reached peak hype and is on the radar of nearly every retailer, it hasn’t yet been employed widely by shoppers, mostly due to fear of hallucinations or perhaps because brands prefer to avoid introducing steps that could distract shoppers during their buying journey. However, this could all be changing according…

Post-pandemic the retail industry was anticipating the new normal which never came. While retailers were establishing scalable solutions for challenges that surfaced from supply chain to shelf, artificial intelligence was becoming more accessible to consumers. Fast-forward a few years and what started as a new era quickly shifted to a mandate to do business differently…

Change is now the norm in retail: brands are constantly tweaking their offerings to capture shoppers’ hard-earned money and improve their traditionally razor-thin margins. And their efforts are succeeding; the National Retail Federation predicts that retail sales in the U.S. will grow between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent this year to between $5.23 trillion and $5.28…

Artificial intelligence adoption is no longer a question of “if.” The debate on whether AI will add value is over — yes, AI brings value, lots of value. We can look at the how, but the focus should be on the why. According to a Metrigy study, only 34 percent of retailers said that 2024…