Retailers are bringing AI into stores in more ways
The application of artificial intelligence as a customer-facing element of physical stores is far from one-size-fits-all.
In February, The Vitamin Shoppe opened an “innovation store” in New York City’s Upper East Side with a “Shoppe Advisor” touch screen. The AI-powered screen provides product information, wellness articles and videos, as well as information on in-store and online inventory. It aims to enable “more informed, interactive conversations throughout the shopping experience,” according to Retail Dive.
Last summer, Guitar Center launched Rig Advisor, an AI shopping assistant used by customers on the store floor to explore and compare gear. Customers can scan a QR code in the store and type in a question, and Rig Advisor will recommend products that are in stock at that specific location. Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto told Modern Retail in December that Rig Advisor was built to fill the void when a customer walks into a store and the associates are too busy with other guests to help them. “This is basically everything an associate can do, on your app or on your mobile device,” Dalporto said.
These two examples alone show how AI use cases for in-store shopping, in discovery, research and checkout, can vary. Not even considering behind-the-scenes use cases like supply chain tech and employee assistants, retailers are finding all sorts of ways to bring the technology into brick and mortar. These range from big kiosks to mobile app features, audio summaries or computer vision.
Furthermore, some retailers have started to deploy AI-powered screens within fitting rooms. For example, Crave Retail showed off its smart fitting rooms in January at the NRF conference in New York, according to a press release. Its fitting rooms have Zebra Technologies screens where customers can get AI-driven recommendations, as well as request different sizes, styling support or product information, per the release. The company said these screens have been deployed in fitting rooms in Victoria’s Secret, Under Armour and Foot Locker stores.
Another AI use designed in part to be used for stores is Walmart’s launch of AI-generated audio summaries on its website and app. The retailer last year added such audio summaries to product pages on its app for more than 1,000 premium beauty products. The company said the summaries are short, conversational soundbites that help customers compare items and make confident decisions, and are ideal for mobile or in-aisle shopping.
Still, there are not yet consistent, widespread uses of AI inside physical stores. Greg Carlucci, a senior director analyst for Gartner who consults CMOs as well as digital commerce and marketing leaders, said he believes there is potential in the ability for consumers to connect with shopping assistants in stores that can suggest products to them. About 44% of consumers — online or in-store — are willing to let AI assist with shopping tasks like researching, narrowing down products or reordering items, according to Gartner research.
“Brands are still trying to figure out what consumers want, because it is such a new technology,” Carlucci said. “There’s this first-mover hesitation right now to understand what will be positively received and also what creates a value add.”
However, most examples of “AI” use within stores aren’t solely using AI technology, or it can be difficult to determine if or where AI may factor into certain shopping features.
RFID scanners like those found at the self-checkout areas of Uniqlo, for example, likely use some AI behind the scenes, said Melissa Minkow, global director of retail strategy and insights for CI&T. “It would have to use AI on the back end to be quickly analyzing that data and factoring in to replenishment needs and stuff like that,” Minkow said.
“AI has been used for two decades at this point in retail; it’s used in a lot of processes, but it’s not a very front-facing tool,” Minkow added. “It’s a support tool to achieve something front-facing.”
Minkow sees opportunities in areas such as color matching for more improvement. Sephora has had skin-color-matching features in stores and on its website for more than a decade to help customers find the best foundation and concealer for their skin tone. In stores, an associate can take pictures of a customer’s face and skin to recommend products that match their skin tone.
“I personally have not had a successful color-matching moment [with AI], and yet, I’ve gone to a store and have had a person, a human sales associate, actually find the right match for me,” Minkow said. “This technology is iterative, and it needs as many entries as possible to aggregate and then get smarter. It’s still in a growth phase.”