Retail embraces generative AI to optimize processes and improve customer experience

The recent emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has made this technology an increasingly common element in the current agendas of professionals and companies, without distinction of size or sector. Thus, the retail see how this technology not only allows you to be more efficient in your processes or save on resources but is also a powerful tool with which you can really Being able to know the client better and offer better service.

“We have gone from considering technology simply as an expense to considering it an investment that adds value,” he stated. Joan Sintes, CCO at Plain Concepts. A value that, in the case of artificial intelligence, with generative intelligence as the “democratizer” of this technology, “is perfectly seen in how, thanks to these tools, it is possible to analyze the data that companies increasingly generate and manage to , from these, make more agile and informed business decisions,” he added.

Thus, for Álvaro Pulido, Retail Data&Analytics Manager at NTT DATAthe introduction of Generative AI in retail represents “a paradigm shift in a sector where there were still too many traditional rules to break and, especially, it has caused a change in the relationship between brands and customers, making it more fluid and personalized “.

Along the same lines, it was positioned Enric Escalé, director of the ‘Business Insights’ area of ​​SDG Group For whom, in addition to decision making and customer relations, “this technology is allowing retail companies to generate personalized content more quickly.”

Something they experience firsthand in the fashion brand cuttlefishas he explained Marketing Director, Verónica Olivares. “We are using a generative AI solution to create quality content, images of models with our garments, in which it is possible to see the textures or the pattern and do it in a much faster and more personalized way.” But in addition, he added, “generative AI has allowed us to achieve omnichannel among our ecommerce and our physical stores.

Real use cases

Are we, therefore, at a time when companies are finally beginning to see and be able to apply this technology to specific use cases?

“We have gone from proofs of concept to seeing that it does work and therefore trying to apply the technology,” said Álvaro Pulido, from NTT DATA. In his opinion, “currently even Gartner talks about a ‘hype’ of generative artificial intelligence and it is true that what we see is that today all companies are trying to see how you can help them in their business, “They see that there are opportunities and they want to access them.”

An analysis in which Enric Escalé, from SDG Group, agreed, adding that “it is time to look for use cases, evaluate the return on investment and how to scale these projects.”

Scenario that Joan Sintes, from Plain Concepts, also shared: “It has gone from fear to expectation. Fear because all the managers, from one day to the next, saw how their employees started using Chat GPT without being able to control it. We have gotten them to understand that they cannot go against something like this but that they can and should integrate it into their company, safely, and now, past that fear, everyone is looking for the use case in which generative AI can help them. “.

Better interaction with the customer, generation of content, launch of new products, optimization of processes or, why not, better control of stocks and the supply chain, are some of the projects that are taking place most in retail with this technology as a common denominator.

“With generative AI, for example, launching a new product is easier and faster but not only the product but also, for example, deciding its packaging both for a better customer experience and with logistical criteria, deciding the size of the packaging based on how it will be able to be distributed later,” pointed out the NTT DATA expert.

The creation and detection of patterns with this technology was another of the use cases that, on this occasion, Joan Sintes pointed out from Plain Concepts. “Can detect a break stocks of a certain product in Madrid and see that there is stock of it in the warehouses of London and Mallorca, for example, and decide from which point the process of bringing that merchandise is most optimal, depending on time and cost”.

[El interés por la IA generativa se dispara de la mano de “soluciones sólidas” para pymes y grandes compañías]

Precisely in supply chain management to logistics, Enric Escalé, from SDG Group, also pointed out the value of generative AI, for example to “detect a stock out in real time, thanks to the analysis of the images of the shelves of a establishment, for example.”

Real and numerous use cases but that are still accompanied by some challenges, as explained by Verónica Olivares, from Sepiia, have the necessary data to tackle a generative AI project correctly. “We are trying to develop our own chatbot and it is not easy because we do not have the optimal data structure for it,” she stated.

Quality data and “cheaper” technology

A challenge, everyone pointed out, for practically any company. “The issue of data, its governance or quality, is a pending issue in practically any company and to carry out a project of this type, the first thing you have to know is where you have the data, what quality it is, who it is. the owner of that data, etc,” they pointed out from NTT DATA.

And as, the cost of this technology was also on the table as one of the barriers to be saved by companies, even more so if we take into account that the retail sector is formed mostly by small and medium-sized companies.

“Currently, it is true that it is not an economical technology, due to the computing cost it requires, for example,” said Joan Sintes.

“At Sepiia, for example, introducing a generative AI tool into the ERP we have is very difficult due to the cost it entails in terms of both economic resources and people, entering data,” acknowledged Verónica Olivares.

A situation that, however, everyone believes will change in a short time. “It is true that it is now an expensive technology but, soon, it will be democratized. It will happen the same as when the ecommerce; practically no company could afford it and today, with just four clicksyou can create an online store”, assured Enric Escalé.

Future in which, for the Plain Concepts expert, it will be increasingly easier to have generative AI solutions “both for the core of the business, since practically all the large IT providers are going to launch their own assistants for their solutions, as well as for specific retail needs, thanks to startups who will develop specialized tools.

And, of course, as with any technological disruption, streamline your application Depending on the value it really brings, it will mark tomorrow. “Innovation cannot be a bottomless well of resources; we must always ask ourselves why we are going to use a certain technology, what it solves or improves,” concluded Álvaro Pulido, Retail Data&Analytics Manager at NTT DATA.

With that common sense as our flag, what no one seems to doubt is that Generative AI could be a definitive lever in process improvementin the optimization of costs and in the relationship with the retail customer, a qualitative leap in its development and modernization.