Digital transformation, artificial intelligence and the future of retail: how your business can go beyond hype

Hype is a concept applied by marketing teams to refer to promotional actions of a product or service, intense and for a short period, focused on subjects widely commented at a given time. The use of digital technologies is indispensable, but recent innovations, such as artificial intelligence, allow companies to plan practices that go far beyond the hype.

In this sense, personalization in the relationship with the customer is the big leap. “When we talk about digital transformation and the future of retail, today we have to turn our attention to artificial intelligence. Will it replace people in some activities? Will we have stores without sellers?In addition to these issues, we have to understand how AI can contribute to the customer journey”, evaluates the CEO of the Irrah Group, Cesar Baleco.

The organization specializes in products and technological solutions focused on retail. Includes e-commerce tools, store management and automation of contact channels between retailer and customers & I.E.O.T Including chatbot with artificial intelligence.It has been on the market for almost 20 years, a period in which it has accompanied the intense and accelerated technological innovation. “Agora, we see AI coming to revolutionize retail”, he considers.

An example of personalization in service, provided by artificial intelligence, is what can reconfigure the store concept. Whether physical or virtual, standardized service will give way to a personalized relationship, made possible by algorithms and data analysis increasingly deep and fast, “practically in real time”, as the expert points out.

“Purchase history, social media interactions, the words used by consumers both in their speech and in their searches, how this consumer behaves in the store, all this provides information for technology to return to the customer answers that meet their personal preferences, specific, in order to satisfy their desires and desires”, illustrates the CEO.

Thus, retail will be able not only to meet what the consumer asks, but also, mainly, to anticipate this request and need. It happens that the collection, storage and analysis of data, through artificial intelligence, expands on an exponential scale; the generative capacity of technology enables segmented, personified responses, “sob measure”, in the words of Baleco.

The expert explains that retail stores will become as personalized as are today the user profiles on streaming platforms or music platforms, for example, which already offer these consumers menus of movies and music that not only meet preferences but keep such users connected and loyal. “Presentation of releases, discounts and promotions can be tailor-made for each customer”, he predicts.

The behavior of the customer at each moment is also possible to be understood. That is, despite the history of searches, purchases and views, artificial intelligence accompanies any changes in taste, or even the consumer's feeling at that moment of interaction.“A chatbot with artificial intelligence detects some variation of mood in the face of frustration for not having their need met, for example.”

Investment in technology providers that offer an ecosystem of solutions (management, customer service, sale) is therefore essential for the retailer to incorporate a full digital transformation. After all, notes the CEO of the Irrah Group, segmented and personalized actions are of no use if, at the time when the customer needs to follow up on their journey, the system is not structurally prepared to accommodate demands and flows.