Every retail CIO faces the same challenge: how to maintain profitability in the face of perpetual disruption. The possible impact of persistent inflation is just the most recent addition to the profitability challenges faced by the retail industry since the start of the pandemic in 2020. 

Picture this: Your smart refrigerator would soon be able to sense your groceries and milk supplies that need replenishment. This list will be automatically sent to your Smart Digital Assistant (Alexa, Google Home, etc.), which in turn will send it to an automated chatbot within the premise of your local departmental store.  

Result: Fresh supplies delivered, as required, without your intervention.  

With the cloud transformation wave taking businesses by storm, it is essential to have special infrastructure tools and architecture to leverage automation and built-in security for superior migration and economics. However, for many businesses, the foundations of their on-premises IT systems were built years ago, and people who set up these systems might have already left the organization.

The company that brought us the Kindle, Amazon Prime, and a world of hilarious reviews, will now also sell us products in brick and mortar department stores too.

They say that no one likes being sold to, but everyone likes buying.

'In a data-empowered digital world in which solving customers’ problems has become the key success factor, the traditional model for retail supply-chain excellence has to evolve, and retailers must find ways to offer customer convenience across all touchpoints.' - McKinsey

 

Consumer priorities are changing. Brand loyalty, while not quite a thing of the past, is heavily influenced by customer experience.

The widespread adoption of new technologies has made the customer journey interactive, frictionless and more valuable. Although this is great for the consumer, it puts pressure on retailers to update their legacy systems or lose out to the competition.

By 2023, at least 50 percent of global companies will use IoT, advanced analytics, and AI in supply chain operations. That’s according to this report from Gartner.

McKinsey estimates the potential annual value of AI in the retail industry sits between £300 billion and £600 billion. It's clear the opportunity for companies is substantial.

But what exactly does thefuture of AIin retaillook like?