Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Automation on Retail: Subrat Panda, Capillary Technologies

Implementation of Artificial Intelligence and Automation in the everyday functioning of businesses is a win-win game as far as both organisations and consumers are concerned. In the retail industry especially, automation can give help companies achieve better customer engagement. In an interview with DataQuest, Subrat Panda, Head of AI, Capillary Technologies, provides unique insights on the role played by Artificial Intelligence and Automation in retail, key technology trends in the industry, and what Capillary Technologies has to offer in the same.

Automation and retail: Efficiency and business growth

For retailers, automation drives efficiency and business growth by increased productivity and real - time predictability. Automation enables lower error rates, automated processes, and a learning mechanism to learn through data.

• Lower error rates are possible through virtue of eliminating human error. Brands can evaluate the accuracy of automation once they reach an acceptable level of accuracy or business sense.
• Automated processes that can help organizations realize greater efficiencies, improved outcomes, and reduced costs. Automated processes also contribute to the accuracy in tasks. Retailers need to identify specific tasks in the entire process, which can be easily automated
• Predictability is about the ability to predict outcomes based on previous data. Augmented decision-making enabled by advanced Artificial Intelligence algorithms that quickly optimize scientific decision-making, allocate resources, and efficiently scale operations by virtue of rules driven by business domain knowledge.

How consumers benefit from the implementation of such technologies

For a consumer, engagement and loyalty are driven by virtue of these technologies. Any automation done by retailers is to improve RoI and it comes from better customer engagement. This is to some extend efficiently enabled by automation technologies - by defining Whom, Where, When and How. Through the implementation of emerging technologies, possible benefits for the consumer include:

• Personalized products and services Automation and Artificial Intelligence technology helps retailers have a clear picture of a consumer’s experience and helps them personally attend to every individual consumer’s requirements. This enables consumers get a total brand experience. For instance, a consumer’s behaviour and feedback is consistently recorded through automation. This data aids the retailer get insight on whether the customer is a regular or about his/ preferences in the past, which in turn helps retailers make better decisions and enhances customer retention.
• Online product recommendations. An algorithm-driven user interface can provide product recommendations based on assessments of consumers’ buying patterns and product preferences, making the shopping experience more relevant, enjoyable, and satisfying.
• Timely service. Digital supply chain networks driven by Artificial Intelligence and automation have dramatically reduced turnaround, delivery, and customer service times.

Key technology trends in retail

Retail was one of the first industries to adopt digital transformation and have now certainly taken a deep dive into the tech wave. In the last few years especially, retailers have focused on the offline side of the business and not just the e-commerce part. Retailers are trying to make it more informative and bridge the gaps with the online retail and present an omnichannel experience to the customers. Retailers have connected their physical and digital presence to deliver an enhanced customer experience. A seamless hand-off between and among technologies and in-store, during single and multiple journeys is becoming necessary as customers come to expect a ‘phygital’ experience.

In the near future, Artificial Intelligence in Voice, Video and Natural Language Processing will rule the technology trends in retail. Usage of Artificial Intelligence in Video and Audio is also becoming a common phenomenon now among retailers.

• Artificial Intelligence in Video is used for analyzing demographics; fashion, wear, etc can lead to better-informed engagement with the end consumer with better recommendations.
• Voice is the most frictionless mode of communication and interaction and using Artificial Intelligence in voice can lead to a better communication interface in search. This further helps retailers engage with their customers personally.

Brief on Capillary’s solutions that leverage Artificial Intelligence technology

Capillary's Instore Vision product suite leverages IoT and Artificial Intelligence technology for gathering Offline store intelligence. Through Capillary’s accurate data analytics, retailers can understand preferences among their customers and make wise business decisions accordingly. They offer Artificial Intelligence platform in our products around Personalization, Recommendation and Insights.

Personalization implies personalised campaigns; Capillary also offers recommendation on websites, email links, etc. and provides retailers with actionable insights based on business KPI performance. Artificial Intelligence in their offerings even suggests retailers with choices in terms of loyalties and discounts, which will help them with customer retention. Capillary empowers retail brands to be always ready for their customer.