Five Examples of How Companies are Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Retail
Christian Pichler
Chief Technology Officer at Anyline
Thanks to the rate at which modern technology continues to advance, it’s become commonplace for retail businesses to jump into the digital world with open arms. There are so many opportunities available to not only improve the customer experience, but to simplify and speed up every-day processes.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are a big part of this and in this blog, we will explore how five leading retail companies are utilizing both to great effect in ways.
Walmart: Enhancing Inventory Management
Walmart may be at the forefront of this movement with their experimental Intelligent Retail Lab (IRL) – a 50,000 square foot store in Levittown, New York. This store leverages artificial intelligence to guarantee that perishable products always remain in stock and fresh for customers.
It uses cameras positioned strategically throughout the store that can collect up to 1.6 terabytes of data per second. When a customer picks up the last of an item on the shelf, a text is sent to a sales associate to make sure that they know to restock it.
Amazon GO: Jumping the Queue with Machine Learning
Amazon GO is another example of these ideas in action – a convenience store that uses not cashiers, but machine learning and sensors to keep track of inventory. The store can literally track when items are taken off the shelves and what they cost. People can walk out without ever having to stand in line or go through a physical checkout process. After they exit the store, their Amazon accounts are automatically charged for the products they have purchased.
McDonald’s: Improving Customer Experience with AI
Although many people may not associate McDonald’s with technology, they’ve actually made one of their biggest technology investments in years through an acquisition of a company called Dynamic Yield. This was an AI-driven start-up based in Tel Aviv and New York – and was acquired by the fast food giant for more than $300 million.
The central focus of Dynamic Yield is to provide personalized customer experiences through the help of artificial intelligence. This has allowed McDonald’s to change digital displays at drive-thrus at more than 8,000 locations across the country to provide more customized recommendations based on who is seeing them at the moment. Information like weather, traffic patterns and more is all available as well.
All of this is being leveraged to make more meaningful food recommendations based on store location, helping managers better understand how to serve the customers in the neighborhoods they’re actually operating in.
Comerso: The Zero-Waste App
Comerso is notable because their effort is to help businesses adopt a true zero-waste model. Through the scanning of barcodes, retailer associates can better identify unsold and even out-of-date products, at which point they can then get in touch with possible recipients through the Comerso network.
Comerso integrated Anyline‘s industry-leading mobile barcode scanning SDK into their new app, allowing it to be used on any device someone already owns. This improved its ability to not only connect with retailers, but with possible customers as well.
Metro: Scan and Go
Finally, the European wholesales Metro has developed its own tech-driven barcode scanning solution to assist shoppers with finding items in store. Working with Anyline, they developed a new solution with an external partner which can be used both for customer apps and inventory management.
As a result, Metro can not only scan incoming and outgoing products both fast and efficiently – it also puts organizational leaders in a position to trust the data that they are receiving. This will not only go a long way towards improving operational efficiencies, but it can also help streamline tedious processes, free up the valuable time of employees to focus on those matters that truly need them, and ultimately enhance the customer experience as well.
To find out more information about how companies are leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning in a retail environment, or to get answers to any other questions you may have, please don’t delay – contact us today.
