Contributed by Eric Wilson, CCO, Movista
There is a formidable iceberg in retail that has existed since the dawn of commerce: negative customer experience. Retail teams try to steer clear from it with varying success, but a minefield of smaller icebergs—supply chain delays, labor shortages, and omnichannel logistics to name a few—are complicating the maneuver. Thankfully, there is a lighthouse in the distance that is guiding retail teams through the tumultuous waters.
Artificial intelligence is pushing the boundaries of retail work by unlocking new levels of efficiency and accuracy. Previously time-consuming and error-prone tasks such as inventory management become profoundly simple (and cost-effective) with AI technology. It should come as no surprise, then, that the global market for AI in retail is projected to reach a staggering $17.1 billion by 2028, compared to just $2.9 billion in 2021.
Retail teams are leveraging AI for a variety of use cases, but the biggest one by far has been customer experience (CX):
This heightened focus on customer experience makes sense at the surface level considering that customers ultimately drive retail success, but there’s more to the story than that: CX is just the tip of the iceberg; beneath the water lies the much bigger operational challenge of retail execution and workforce management.
Teams who leverage AI solely to enhance CX risk crashing into the submerged importance of behind-the-scenes execution. While CX is a critical component to retail success, if you can’t get the right products on the right shelves at the right time, priced and positioned correctly, day in and day out, no amount of AI will save your ship from sinking.
We explore this issue in much greater depth in our recent whitepaper, “Artificial Intelligence in Retail: The Emerging Role of AI in Store Execution” (which you can download and read here), but if you’re short on time, I’ve put together an executive brief below.
About the Author
Eric Wilson, Chief Customer Officer (CCO) at Movista, has 20+ years of leadership experience in businesses ranging from tech startups to global SaaS organizations. His experience includes serving as COO for Verian, General Manager North America for Basware, and General Manager Supply Chain for GEP. Eric is an expert in creating a strategic vision, assembling and leading cross-functional organizations, and profitably driving business transformation and growth in domestic and global organizations.