Retailers are creating tailored experiences through the integration of AI to meet customers' expectations

Print

Email

The retail sector is becoming increasingly challenging since players face price pressure from discounters, online players, and increased price transparency for shoppers. The traditional approaches taken by the retailers are not as effective as they used to be and thus can be easily imitated. Therefore, personalized approaches are adopted by retailers to create unique experiences tailored to individual customers, driving their loyalty to the customers.

Notably, brands and organizations are now using proprietary data to develop highly personalized customer experiences, helping to create a differentiation against the competitor. Such personalized experiences, when executed properly by the retailers, drive up both customer loyalty and top-line growth. Therefore, retailers are adopting AI-powered shopping carts ,to streamline shopping lists, loyalty, and check out. For instance,

• In May 2022, Albertsons Companies, a food and drug retailer in the United States, partnered up with Veeve Inc. ("Veeve"), a leading retail technology start-up, to provide its customers with Veeve smart carts for shopping in its stores.

These Veeve Smart Carts offer a sophisticated, personalized shopping experience through a touch screen that keeps running total items in the cart together with a built-in weighing scale. This prevents the customers from standing in the queue and measuring their weight, thus making it easy to buy fruits and vegetables.

The grocery chain which runs a loyalty program will also be integrated into these AI-enabled carts. Therefore, post-shopping, customers will be able to complete the payment on the very cart and leave the store. In today's world, where time savings and flexibility are very important, it is anticipated that these tech-enabled cards will attract a substantial number of customers driving loyalty to the company.

Thus, Veeve Smart Carts, which will now be available in around twelve stores in the country, is expected to elevate the grocery experience for the customers. In addition to this, it will also create a link between multiple consumer channels and brands customers trust while keeping customer loyalty primary to the whole experience.

• In January 2022, A2Z Smart Technologies introduced a new AI-based smart cart technology to enhance the customer shopping experience in retail point-of-sale across supermarkets and other retail chains. Notably, this technology, Cust2Mate Smart Cart Platform, will be introduced at the grocery stores in New York and New Jersey in 2022.

This technology uses a combination of computer vision, artificial intelligence and secure edge computing to create a unique, personalized experience for the customers. Moreover, the system engages the customer to offer promotions and discounts and suggests adding items to augment the customer's menu. In addition to this, when the customer picks an item from the shelf, the bar code scanner in the chart immediately shows the product's price. This helps to produce real-time business intelligence and abolish shoplifting.

Moreover, each cart will allow customers to tap and pay together with QR scanning to pay using a bank card or e-wallet. This technology also enables users to pay through buy now pay later credit accounts, loyalty points or even cryptocurrencies.

Therefore, these retail stores, on adopting this technology, will be able to provide a personalized shopping experience while driving the loyalty of the customers, thereby increasing sales.

• In October 2021, San Francisco-based Instacart, which operates in grocery delivery and pickup service, acquired "smart" shopping cart company Caper Inc. for US$350 million. Through this acquisition, Instacart intends to join both the in-store and online shopping experiences. Caper AI cart, which will be part of Instacart's retail partners, will help Instacart's online shopping marketplace, enterprise e-commerce services, fulfillment technology for delivery and pickup, last-mile delivery etc.

Instacart, which has continued to expand its retailer enablement services, helping offline grocers to move their businesses online, will be able to capture more customers post this acquisition. Since shoppers now can scan items they select off the grocery store and pay directly via the cart; this would enhance the personalized shopping experience for the customers, thereby increasing sales.

Shortly, Instacart will integrate Caper's technology into the Instacart app and its retailer partners' e-commerce websites and apps to enable customers to create online shopping lists before time. Therefore, this technology will provide retailers with new and innovative technologies to help them succeed in an increasingly competitive industry, driving customer loyalty further.

To know more and gain a deeper understanding of the global loyalty programs market, click here.