Retailers are harnessing the power of new technology to dig deeper into customer decisions and bring people back into stores.
The National Retail Federation's 2020 Big Show in New York was jam packed full of robots, frictionless store mock-ups, and audacious displays of the latest technology now available to retailers.
Dozens of robots, digital signage tools, and more were available for retail representatives to test out, with hundreds of the biggest tech companies in attendance offering a bounty of eye-popping gadgets designed to increase efficiency and bring the wow factor back to brick-and-mortar stores.
SEE: Artificial intelligence: A business leader's guide (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the annual retail event.
With the explosion in popularity of Amazon, Alibaba, and other e-commerce sites ready to deliver goods right to your door within days, many analysts and retailers figured the brick-and-mortar stores of the past were on their last legs.
But it turns out billions of customers still want the personal, tailored touch of in-store experiences and are not ready to completely abandon physical retail outlets.
"It's not a retail apocalypse. It's a retail renaissance," said Lori Mitchell-Keller, executive vice president and global general manager of consumer industries at SAP.
As leader of SAP's retail, wholesale distribution, consumer products, and life sciences industries division, Mitchell-Keller said she was surprised to see that retailers had shifted their stance and were looking to find ways to beef up their online experience while infusing stores with useful but flashy technology.
"Brick-and-mortar stores have this unique capability to have a specific advantage against online retailers. So despite the trend where everything was going online, it did not mean online at the expense of brick-and-mortar. There is a balance between the two. Those companies that have a great online experience and capability combined with a brick-and-mortar store are in the best place in terms of their ability to be profitable," Mitchell-Keller said during an interview at NRF 2020.
"There is an experience that you cannot get online. This whole idea of customer experience and experience management is definitely the best battleground for the guys that can't compete in delivery. Even for the ones that can compete on delivery, like the Walmarts and Targets, they are using their brick-and-mortar stores to offer an experience that you can't get online. We thought five years ago that brick-and-mortar was dead and it's absolutely not dead. It's actually an asset."
In her experience working with the world's biggest retailers, companies that have a physical presence actually have a huge advantage because customers are now yearning for a personalized experience they can't get online. While e-commerce sites are fast, nothing can beat the ability to have real people answer questions and help customers work through their options, regardless of what they're shopping for.
Retailers are also transforming parts of their stores into fulfillment centers for their online sales, which have the doubling effect of bringing customers into the store where they may spend even more on things they see.
"The brick-and-mortar stores that are using their stores as fulfillment centers have a much lower cost of delivery because they're typically within a few miles of customers. If they have a great online capability and good store fulfillment, they're able to get to customers faster than the aggregators," Mitchell-Keller said. "It's better to have both."
SEE: Feature comparison: E-commerce services and software (TechRepublic Premium)
But one of the main trends, and problems, highlighted at NRF 2020 was the sometimes difficult transition many retailers have had to make to a digitized world.
NRF 2020 was full of decadent tech retail tools like digital price tags, shelf-stocking robots and next-gen advertising signage, but none of this could be incorporated into a retail environment without a basic amount tech talent and systems to back it all.
"It can be very overwhelmingly complicated, not to mention costly, just to have a team to manage technology and an environment that is highly digitally integrated. The solution we try to bring to bear is to add all these capabilities or applications into a turn key environment because fundamentally, none of it works without the network," said Michael Colaneri, AT&T's vice president of retail, restaurants and hospitality.
While it would be easy for a retailer to leave NRF 2020 with a fancy robot or cool gadget, companies typically have to think bigger about the changes they want to see, and generally these kinds of digital transformations have to be embedded deep throughout the supply chain before they can be incorporated into stores themselves.
Colaneri said much of AT&T's work involved figuring out how retailers could connect the store system, the enterprise, the supply chain and then the consumer, to both online and offline systems. The e-commerce part of retailer's business now had to work hand in hand with the functionality of the brick-and-mortar experience because each part rides on top of the network.
"There are five things that retailers ask me to solve: Customer experience, inventory visibility, supply chain efficiency, analytics, and the integration of media experiences like a robot, electronic shelves or digital price tags. How do I pull all this together into a unified experience that is streamlined for customers?" Colaneri said.
"Sometimes they talk to me about technical components, but our number one priority is inventory visibility. I want to track products from raw material to where it is in the legacy retail environment. Retailers also want more data and analytics so they can get some business intelligence out of the disparate data lakes they now have."
The transition to digitized environments is different for every retailer, Colaneri added. Some want slow transitions and gradual introductions of technology while others are desperate for a leg up on the competition and are interested in quick makeovers.
While some retailers have balked at the thought, and price, of wholesale changes, the opposite approach can end up being just as costly.
"Anybody that sells you a digital sign, robot, Magic Mirror or any one of those assets is usually partnering with network providers because it requires the network. And more importantly, what typically happens is if someone buys an asset, they are underestimating the requirements it's going to need from their current network," Colaneri said.
"Then when their team says 'we're already out of bandwidth,' you'll realize it wasn't engineered and that the application wasn't accommodated. It's not going to work. It can turn into a big food fight."
Retailers are increasingly realizing the value of artificial intelligence and machine learning as a way to churn through troves of data collected from customers through e-commerce sites. While these tools require the kind of digital base that both Mitchell-Keller and Colaneri mentioned, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can be used to address a lot of the pain points retailers are now struggling with.
Mitchell-Keller spoke of SAP's work with Costco as an example of the kind of real-world value AI and machine learning can add to a business. Costco needed help reducing waste in their bakeries and wanted better visibility into when customers were going to buy particular products on specific days or at specific times.
"Using machine learning, what SAP did was take four years of data out of five different stores for Costco as a pilot and used AI and machine learning to look through the data for patterns to be able to better improve their forecasting. They're driving all of their bakery needs based on the forecast and that forcecast helped Costco so much they were able to reduce their waste by about 30%," Mitchell-Keller said, adding that their program improved productivity by 10%.
SAP and dozens of other tech companies at NRF 2020 offered AI-based systems for a variety of supply chain management tools, employee payment systems and even resume matches. But AI and machine learning systems are nothing without more data.
SEE:Managing AI and ML in the enterprise 2019: Tech leaders expect more difficulty than previous IT projects(TechRepublic Premium)
Jeff Warren, vice president of Oracle Retail, said there has been a massive shift toward better understanding customers through increased data collection. Historically, retailers simply focused on getting products through the supply chain and into the hands of consumers. But now, retailers are pivoting toward focusing on how to better cater services and goods to the customer.
Warren said Oracle Retail works with about 6,000 retailers in 96 different countries and that much of their work now prioritizes collecting information from every customer interaction.
"What is new is that when you think of the journey of the consumer, it's not just about selling anymore. It's not just about ringing up a transaction or line busting. All of the interactions between you and me have value and hold something meaningful from a data perspective," he said, adding that retailers are seeking to break down silos and pool their data into a single platform for greater ease of use.
"Context would help retailers deliver a better experience to you. Its petabytes of information about what the US consumer market is spending and where they're spending. We can take the information that we get from those interactions that are happening at the point of sale about our best customers and learn more."
With the Oracle platform, retailers can learn about their customers and others who may have similar interests or live in similar places. Companies can do a better job of targeting new customers when they know more about their current customers and what else they may want.
IBM is working on similar projects with hundreds of different retailers , all looking to learn more about their customers and tailor their e-commerce as well as in-store experience to suit their biggest fans.
IBM global managing director for consumer industries Luq Niazi told TechRepublic during a booth tour that learning about consumer interests was just one aspect of how retailers could appeal to customers in the digital age.
"Retailers are struggling to work through what tech they need. When there is so much tech choice, how do you decide what's important? Many companies are implementing tech that is good but implemented badly, so how do you help them do good tech implemented well?" Niazi said.
"You have all this old tech in stores and you have all of this new tech. You have to think about how you bring the capability together in the right way to deploy flexibly whatever apps and experiences you need from your store associate, for your point of sale, for your order management system that is connected physically and digitally. You've got to bring those together in different ways. We have to help people think about how they design the store of the future."
Get expert tips on mastering the fundamentals of big data analytics, and keep up with the latest developments in artificial intelligence. Delivered Mondays
Originally posted here:
AI, machine learning, robots, and marketing tech coming to a store near you - TechRepublic
- Are We Overly Infatuated With Deep Learning? - Forbes [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 28th, 2019]
- CMSWire's Top 10 AI and Machine Learning Articles of 2019 - CMSWire [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 28th, 2019]
- Can machine learning take over the role of investors? - TechHQ [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 28th, 2019]
- Pear Therapeutics Expands Pipeline with Machine Learning, Digital Therapeutic and Digital Biomarker Technologies - Business Wire [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- Dell's Latitude 9510 shakes up corporate laptops with 5G, machine learning, and thin bezels - PCWorld [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- Limits of machine learning - Deccan Herald [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- Forget Machine Learning, Constraint Solvers are What the Enterprise Needs - - RTInsights [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- Tiny Machine Learning On The Attiny85 - Hackaday [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- Finally, a good use for AI: Machine-learning tool guesstimates how well your code will run on a CPU core - The Register [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- How Will Your Hotel Property Use Machine Learning in 2020 and Beyond? | - Hotel Technology News [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- Technology Trends to Keep an Eye on in 2020 - Built In Chicago [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- AI and machine learning trends to look toward in 2020 - Healthcare IT News [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- The 4 Hottest Trends in Data Science for 2020 - Machine Learning Times - machine learning & data science news - The Predictive Analytics Times [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- The Problem with Hiring Algorithms - Machine Learning Times - machine learning & data science news - The Predictive Analytics Times [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- Going Beyond Machine Learning To Machine Reasoning - Forbes [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2020]
- Doctor's Hospital focused on incorporation of AI and machine learning - EyeWitness News [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Being human in the age of Artificial Intelligence - Deccan Herald [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Raleys Drive To Be Different Gets an Assist From Machine Learning - Winsight Grocery Business [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Break into the field of AI and Machine Learning with the help of this training - Boing Boing [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- BlackBerry combines AI and machine learning to create connected fleet security solution - Fleet Owner [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- What is the role of machine learning in industry? - Engineer Live [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Seton Hall Announces New Courses in Text Mining and Machine Learning - Seton Hall University News & Events [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Christiana Care offers tips to 'personalize the black box' of machine learning - Healthcare IT News [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Leveraging AI and Machine Learning to Advance Interoperability in Healthcare - - HIT Consultant [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Essential AI & Machine Learning Certification Training Bundle Is Available For A Limited Time 93% Discount Offer Avail Now - Wccftech [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Educate Yourself on Machine Learning at this Las Vegas Event - Small Business Trends [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- 2020: The year of seeing clearly on AI and machine learning - ZDNet [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- How machine learning and automation can modernize the network edge - SiliconANGLE [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Five Reasons to Go to Machine Learning Week 2020 - Machine Learning Times - machine learning & data science news - The Predictive Analytics Times [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Don't want a robot stealing your job? Take a course on AI and machine learning. - Mashable [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Adventures With Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning - Toolbox [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Optimising Utilisation Forecasting with AI and Machine Learning - Gigabit Magazine - Technology News, Magazine and Website [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Machine Learning: Higher Performance Analytics for Lower ... [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Machine Learning Definition [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Machine Learning Market Size Worth $96.7 Billion by 2025 ... [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Difference between AI, Machine Learning and Deep Learning [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Machine Learning in Human Resources Applications and ... [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Pricing - Machine Learning | Microsoft Azure [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2020]
- Looking at the most significant benefits of machine learning for software testing - The Burn-In [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 22nd, 2020]
- New York Institute of Finance and Google Cloud Launch A Machine Learning for Trading Specialization on Coursera - PR Web [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 22nd, 2020]
- Uncover the Possibilities of AI and Machine Learning With This Bundle - Interesting Engineering [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 22nd, 2020]
- Red Hat Survey Shows Hybrid Cloud, AI and Machine Learning are the Focus of Enterprises - Computer Business Review [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 22nd, 2020]
- Machine learning - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 22nd, 2020]
- Vectorspace AI Datasets are Now Available to Power Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Systems in Collaboration with Elastic -... [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 22nd, 2020]
- Learning that Targets Millennial and Generation Z - HR Exchange Network [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 23rd, 2020]
- Machine learning and eco-consciousness key business trends in 2020 - Finfeed [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 24th, 2020]
- Jenkins Creator Launches Startup To Speed Software Testing with Machine Learning -- ADTmag - ADT Magazine [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 24th, 2020]
- Research report investigates the Global Machine Learning In Finance Market 2019-2025 - WhaTech Technology and Markets News [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 25th, 2020]
- Expert: Don't overlook security in rush to adopt AI - The Winchester Star [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 25th, 2020]
- Federated machine learning is coming - here's the questions we should be asking - Diginomica [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 25th, 2020]
- I Know Some Algorithms Are Biased--because I Created One - Scientific American [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- Iguazio Deployed by Payoneer to Prevent Fraud with Real-time Machine Learning - Business Wire [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- Want To Be AI-First? You Need To Be Data-First. - Forbes [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- How Machine Learning Will Lead to Better Maps - Popular Mechanics [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- Technologies of the future, but where are AI and ML headed to? - YourStory [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- In Coronavirus Response, AI is Becoming a Useful Tool in a Global Outbreak - Machine Learning Times - machine learning & data science news - The... [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- This tech firm used AI & machine learning to predict Coronavirus outbreak; warned people about danger zones - Economic Times [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- 3 books to get started on data science and machine learning - TechTalks [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- JP Morgan expands dive into machine learning with new London research centre - The TRADE News [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- Euro machine learning startup plans NYC rental platform, the punch list goes digital & other proptech news - The Real Deal [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- The ML Times Is Growing A Letter from the New Editor in Chief - Machine Learning Times - machine learning & data science news - The Predictive... [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- Top Machine Learning Services in the Cloud - Datamation [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- Combating the coronavirus with Twitter, data mining, and machine learning - TechRepublic [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2020]
- Itiviti Partners With AI Innovator Imandra to Integrate Machine Learning Into Client Onboarding and Testing Tools - PRNewswire [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 2nd, 2020]
- Iguazio Deployed by Payoneer to Prevent Fraud with Real-time Machine Learning - Yahoo Finance [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 2nd, 2020]
- ScoreSense Leverages Machine Learning to Take Its Customer Experience to the Next Level - Yahoo Finance [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 2nd, 2020]
- How Machine Learning Is Changing The Future Of Fiber Optics - DesignNews [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 2nd, 2020]
- How to handle the unexpected in conversational AI - ITProPortal [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 5th, 2020]
- SwRI, SMU fund SPARKS program to explore collaborative research and apply machine learning to industry problems - TechStartups.com [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 5th, 2020]
- Reinforcement Learning (RL) Market Report & Framework, 2020: An Introduction to the Technology - Yahoo Finance [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 5th, 2020]
- ValleyML Is Launching a Series of 3 Unique AI Expo Events Focused on Hardware, Enterprise and Robotics in Silicon Valley - AiThority [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 5th, 2020]
- REPLY: European Central Bank Explores the Possibilities of Machine Learning With a Coding Marathon Organised by Reply - Business Wire [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 5th, 2020]
- VUniverse Named One of Five Finalists for SXSW Innovation Awards: AI & Machine Learning Category - PRNewswire [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 5th, 2020]
- Putting the Humanity Back Into Technology: 10 Skills to Future Proof Your Career - HR Technologist [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2020]
- Twitter says AI tweet recommendations helped it add millions of users - The Verge [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2020]
- Artnome Wants to Predict the Price of a Masterpiece. The Problem? There's Only One. - Built In [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2020]
- Machine Learning Patentability in 2019: 5 Cases Analyzed and Lessons Learned Part 1 - Lexology [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2020]
- The 17 Best AI and Machine Learning TED Talks for Practitioners - Solutions Review [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2020]
- Overview of causal inference in machine learning - Ericsson [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2020]
- Manchester Digital unveils 72% growth for digital businesses in the region - Education Technology [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2020]