AI is revolutionising numerous industries with its incredible capabilities. The impact it is making is genuinely fascinating and holds great potential for businesses. Retail is definitely one of the most exciting sectors to explore regarding AI technology.

It is fascinating to see how this cutting-edge technology enables retailers to unlock advanced capabilities and take their businesses to new heights. In light of the current economic landscape, it’s evident that AI holds immense potential for businesses to streamline operations, cut down expenses, and gain a competitive edge in the market.

This fascinating report from Honeywell sheds light on several intriguing aspects and prompts further contemplation.

Key facts

• 6 in 10 retailers plan to adopt AI in future
• 48% said that they believe AI, ML, and CV will be the top technologies impacting retail in the next 3-5 year
• 38% Using AI/ML for selected use cases/ operations/ regions/ departments, 35% Using it on a large scale across several use cases/ systems/ departments, 15% Discussing/ planning to implement in the next 12 months, 9% Conducting pilots, 3% Not using at all
• Nearly half (48%) of respondents identified AI, ML and CV as the top technologies expected to significantly impact the retail industry over the next three to five years.
• Top 3 motivations for deploying a new technology – 59% Improving customer experience, 49% Driving greater productivity, 44% Achieving cost efficiencies/return on investment (ROI)
• 3 barriers to adoption – 39% Budget restrictions, 29% Difficulty in demonstrating business value, 21% Lack of internal expertise to maintain the technology
• AI, ML and CVs used for – 19% Automating and supporting day-to-day tasks, such as picking and scheduling, 18% Supporting customer service/live chat for digital channels, 15% Customer profiling/targeted marketing campaigns, 12% Improving inventory management, 4% loss and theft prevention, 6% optimizing shipping processes, 7% Price optimization/forecasting

Key takeaways

The report has many interesting highlights. Here are my insights based on this:

• Retail AI landscape – Most retailers are positive about AI and how it can be adopted in the future
• Motivations for AI adoption – It is encouraging to see good motivations for AI adoption, and I was interested to see customer experience the top

Key thinking

Artificial intelligence is already having a profound effect on the retail sector. Whether it’s improving sales with more in-depth analysis or optimising operations, artificial intelligence models may be applied anywhere.  Some of the most important factors driving adoption are discussed in this report.

Retail businesses looking at the advantages and limitations of today will gain an early advantage over their respective competitors. Companies that adopt AI fully and integrate it through an integrated framework have a good chance of leveraging this opportunity now and for years to come.

• Read the report here

Please note

I have no affiliation with the companies/technology/people mentioned. This analysis is 100% independent for the benefit of the data/business community. Please feel free to share this on your social network. Thank you.

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