With retailers recognizing the value and potential of artificial intelligence (AI), the future of the technology in the industry seems promising. As per Statista, retailers using AI and machine learning technologies typically perform better than their competitors.

According to Gartner, 91% of retail IT leaders are prioritizing AI as the top technology to implement by 2026. As more retailers embrace AI, a number of areas within retail are likely to become more sophisticated. We anticipate that the tech will significantly revolutionize customer experiences, analytical capabilities, and marketing strategies for retailers. In this blog, we take a look at these key areas retailers can expect AI to transform…

AI-Powered Personalized Experiences

Being able to provide meaningful tailored customer experiences is a priority for retailers, and AI can be of great help. A Statista survey showed that retailers plan to use generative AI (GenAI) to generate personalized responses for customer-service agents, create digital shopping assistants, and for personalized promotions to drive loyalty. Experienced retail technology providers gauged this interest and have already started to explore ways to leverage GenAI. Last year, Teamwork Commerce partnered with Google Cloud to develop new generative AI features in its industry-leading mobile Point-of-Sale (Mobile POS) and Order Management System (OMS).

Ultimately, the key lies in delivering value to customers. PwC found out that 70% of CEOs believe GenAI will significantly change the way their companies create, deliver and capture value in the next three years.

While retailers embrace AI, they must be mindful of striking a balance between AI-powered personalization and human-led interactions. Customers still crave the human touch as part of their shopping experiences, and retailers must not solely replace it with tech. Instead, retailers should use AI tools to empower their staff to automate repetitive tasks, stay more informed, and focus on providing high-quality shopping experiences to customers.

Improved Analysis & Forecasting

In 2023, a Statista survey found that predicting customer behavior and needs and improving their shopping experiences were the most popular reasons for 60% of professionals to use AI. AI-powered solutions can quickly analyze large amounts of data and produce actionable insights for retailers. However, retailers must be able to feed accurate and up-to-date data in real-time to enable AI to produce reliable results. In order to achieve this, retailers can leverage the latest Inventory Management Systems that provide real-time visibility with accurate data.

Retailers can utilize data from the past few years and identify key trends and common types of items that are best-selling during a specific time period. This allows retailers to prepare ahead of time and fill their inventory with the items that are expected to be in demand. Additionally, retailers can go above and beyond for loyal customers, analyzing individual customer profiles and creating personalized discounts using AI. As a result, not only can they retain their loyal customers but also increase the positive word of mouth for their brand, ultimately attracting more customers.

Targeted Marketing & Advertising

From AB testing to content creation, AI tools help marketers automate tasks, and create effective marketing campaigns efficiently. However, with growing advancements, AI can do a lot more. By leveraging data analytics, AI can significantly segment customers based on information such as purchase history and browsing behavior. AI algorithms can further analyze these segments to predict future behaviors based on their past interactions. As a result, retailers can gain better insights and target their marketing campaigns towards specific groups that are more likely to convert. AI tools can also analyze which campaigns are more effective, enabling marketers to allocate their budgets more efficiently focusing on high-performing campaigns.

Retail marketing professionals can also use AI to analyze social media conversations to understand public sentiment about their brand or product. This allows marketers to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly based on social media sentiment. This is significant because retailers can tailor their marketing campaigns based on ongoing sentiment in the market and make them more effective.

Are you looking for the latest technology to help you meet your evolving business needs? Get in touch.

Olympics fever is here! A rainy Friday night in Paris kicked off the XXXIII Olympiad at the end of last week, featuring a boat trip down the River Seine for the athletes, an Eiffel Tower light show, and a long-awaited return for Celine Dion to close the opening ceremony. 

As the world settles in to watch the world’s very best athletes compete for the next few weeks, Paris – the fashion capital of the world – is benefiting from the hype of the 33rd Olympic Games. With the games taking place in such a popular city for retail, the industry is expected to benefit from this summer’s event…

An Economic Boost

According to the official Olympic website, the Paris games are set to provide a significant boost to the local economy. Among a variety of social and skills developments, this year’s games are expected to have created an additional 181,000 jobs in the local Paris metropolitan area, with a growth of up to €11.1 billion in economic activity.

Paris is integral to the fashion industry. Already a significant tourist hotspot, the Olympics is expected to pull in an additional 1.5 million foreign visitors to France’s capital this summer. With an increase in tourist activity around the city, some retailers are already taking advantage of increased sales opportunities.

According to Modern Retail, In the past few months alone, brands Hoka and Birkenstock have opened their first Paris-based stores, with Levi’s and Salomon also opening flagship stores on Champs-Élysées avenue. Importantly, these are not simply pop-up stores designed to only maximize opportunities around the Olympics. Instead, they are long-term investments, looking to generate revenues from the summer of sport as a means to kick-off a strong physical performance that leads into a successful future.

Optimizing Opportunity

Few cities across the planet suit an influx of fashion brands staking their claim to physical retail success like Paris. France’s capital has the economic strength, tourism interest and fashion reputation that can drive huge success for retailers.

 However, any brand looking to make the most of increased footfall in bricks and mortar stores must be prepared to handle busy stores. An activity that starts out as an exercise to increase sales opportunities can quickly create negative outcomes – discouraging consumers due to bad experiences caused from long queues and out of stock products.

Limiting In-Store Wait Times

More tourism results in more boots on the ground – especially in hotspots. Retailers should be prepared for heavy foot traffic when big events come around. To minimize in-store queuing, retailers must consider their point of sale (POS) technology, and the role it can play in queue-busting…

• Mobile Point of Sale: Teamwork Commerce’s mobile POS allows in-store associates to complete transactions anywhere on the shop floor. Armed with a tablet that can seamlessly process payments and calculate discounts and promotions, retailers can reduce queues while delivering exceptional customer experiences

• RFID-Powered Self-checkout: Our RFID-Powered self-checkout facilitates transactions in 30 seconds or less. Visitors simply place their basket in a designated area; RFID readers immediately scan all items accurately, and consumers pay for their goods without breaking a sweat

Reducing Out of Stock Situations

Busy shop floors are great. It shows consumer interest in a brand, and likely results in increased sales. However, it also causes challenges. Keeping shelves stocked can be a difficult task; retailers must remain on top of replenishment in order to continue to maximize sales opportunities, and empty shelves lead to disappointed customers, who will happily find another retailer to purchase from.

The challenge lies in visibility of stock levels, but while RFID can help retailers improve self-checkout speeds, it can also play a vital role in inventory management. Tagging products at item-level, retailers can accurately track stock levels in real-time. Teamwork Commerce’s RFID Powered Stock Counter App allows retailers to quickly scan all products at any stage of the supply chain, and create complete visibility of stock. When shop floor products are running low, retailers can receive an alert and quickly replenish specific shelves. Ultimately, RFID can help retailers maintain inventory accuracy and maximize shop floor sales opportunities – regardless of how busy they are.

Vive La France

The Paris Olympics will have the world captivated for a short period, but the fashion capital of the world will always feel like a home for retail. Those brands that have made the effort to take advantage of the buzzt in Paris this summer will be eager to attract the right customers with the right products. Technology can play a pivotal role in delivering high-quality customer experiences. With the correct approach, not only can brands attract short-term interest, but they can drive long-term business growth as well.

Interested in seeing how our technology can help your brand make the most of increased in-store traffic? Get in touch today.

https://retailistmag.com/3-ways-retailers-can-create-a-seamless-checkout-experience-for-customers/

By Amber Hovious, VP Marketing and Partnerships at Teamwork Commerce

Over the last few months, the UK retail landscape has continued to evolve with the adoption of innovative and immersive technology.

While many brands capitalised on consumer resilience and drove profits, others explored innovative approaches to technology implementation to enhance customer retail experience.

In our latest Retail in Review blog, we explore a few of the most notable retail trends coming out of the UK retail environment, and how they evolved throughout May and June…

Retail Rebounding

Whilst cautious spending has been commonplace within consumer behaviour since the beginning of the year, British retail sales saw a significant rebound in May, with sales figures increasing by 2.9%. This figure is well above the consensus of the 1.8% that was originally forecasted by the Office for National Statistics.

 As the April rain came to a halt, summer shoppers flocked online and in-store to purchase their summer goods. Clothing and footwear were the strongest performing categories, up by 5.4% on the previous year, while household goods also rose by 3.5%.

Brand Collaboration

The integration of omnichannel strategies into retail business models has been vital for retailers, who are continually searching for ways to improve and enhance their offering to customers. Over recent months, retailers have highlighted how they are exploring new ways to combine the use of e-commerce with in-store offerings, with many brands partnering to deliver sales into new channels.

The online clothing brand, In The Style, has collaborated with supermarket giant, Tesco, to release a summer clothing range in over 300 Tesco stores nationwide. This partnership allows the e-commerce fashion retailer to widen its brand accessibility and build a physical presence through one of the UK’s largest supermarket brands.

The Debenhams brand, which was acquired by the BooHoo Group back in 2021, is hoping to continue its strong growth beyond its online re-launch by adding brands to its marketplace. The latest comes in place of re-launching Quiz online, with over 600 items set to become available on the site.

Boots also announced its plans to launch 25 beauty brands across all stores before the end of the summer. This is in addition to the more than 500 existing brands currently on offer, as it strengthens its hold on the beauty market in the UK.

Collaboration between retailers is becoming a well-used strategy that is increasing the accessibility of products to customers. Whether bringing e-commerce brands in-store, or introducing traditionally bricks and mortar retailers to online marketplaces, these collaborations create additional options for consumers that enhance a retailer’s competitiveness and improve the overall customer experience.

Innovative Technology

Immersive design is at the forefront of projects for the fashion industry in driving engagement and exceptional customer experience. Bricks and mortar stores are not letting the introduction of new, exciting technology leave them behind in the tech revolution.

Recently, Nike unveiled an immersive shopping experience in its House of Innovation store in Paris to commemorate the release of its new Air Max DN sneakers. A series of detailed 3D visuals showcasing the new release in holographic form.

Innovations such as smart mirrors, Augmented Reality (AR) fitting rooms, and Virtual Reality (VR) show rooms are setting the stage for the latest retail experiences.

Sustainability

Sustainability remains a focal point for retailers as consumers demand more eco-conscious practices and products.

The latest push towards greener purchases has come from, IKEA, which made splash with its own car boot sale, allowing customers to use their car park space to buy and sell unwanted furniture. This move comes as part of wider sustainability initiatives IKEA offers in-store, including its BuyBack & Resell, and Reshop & Reuse services, which allows customers to gain in-store credit or purchase display items at a discounted price.

Stepping Into the Future

The retail industry has shown continued development in the face of adversity over the last few years, and this was re-emphasised again in May and June. With the introduction of new innovative technologies to advance customer experience and a strong push towards sustainability to match consumer demands and preferences, the retail sector is constantly adapting to thrive in a challenging and competitive environment.

As we move forward, the focus will likely remain on enhancing the customer experience, integrating advanced technologies and navigating strategies that meet the preferences of consumers.

Want to know how technology can help you meet evolving consumer needs? Get in touch.