Artificial Intelligence offers a plethora of opportunities to bring a change in almost all spheres, be it health-care, education, e-commerce, research. Can marketing be left behind? With the abundant data and self-learning nature of AI-powered algorithms, retailers can leverage the power of AI to cater to customers and drive sales.
Here are some ways AI has helped Retail Marketing:
Personalized Experiences
AI is revolutionizing shopping experiencesOpens a new window by making them more personalized, fruitful, efficient, and relevant. AI not only helps shoppers find a perfect product but also recommends products, predicts the shopping list and speeds up the checkout process. Based on user purchase history, search habits, age, gender, etc. AI algorithms have the power to make retail shopping experiences more engaging, intimate and targeted.
- Product Recommendations: Retail companies have a massive amount of data on customers’ shopping experiencesOpens a new window (offline and in-store). Feeding the machine learning algorithms with user preferences and purchase history of an online or offline store can recommend products.
For instance – A grocery store may automate a cart in a user’s mobile based on past few purchases, and the user just has to check the item she needs. As soon as she enters the store, her shopping bag is ready. Or an online store may recommend toys for a toddler based on the search history of their loyal customer.
- Gesture Recognition: Human gestures can be interpreted as commands to help a customer with the product they are looking for. Customers can search for a product on a touchless computer using gestures, which help them select the item.
 - Video AnalyticsOpens a new window : Using and analyzing CCTV footage, a store owner can glean insights on how many times a user looks at a product to decide to buy it or to put it back, how she compares two products, which areas of stores are not visited etc. This can help serve the customer better. Video analytics is also useful in maintaining security and avoiding shoplifting.
 - Virtual Mirrors: Virtual trial mirrors can help you find whether that dress or a shade of lipstick suits you. Now the customer doesn’t have to go through the hassle of physically trying all the dresses.
 - VR and AR: Customers can browse through product catalogs and use AR/VR sets to experienceOpens a new window how their product will look and feel like. It saves time, eliminates the need for a sales pitch and gives a live and real experience to the user before he buys the product.
Customer Insights and Relationship Management
Consumer requirements are dynamic. It is essential for retailers to understand what customer needs. Using social profiles, movements, the latest trends, and preferences algorithms can generate insights at a granular level. Sending out contextually relevant messages to customers can help retailers customize marketing messagesOpens a new window  (Click here to read 6 Reasons why B2B Manufacturing Companies need Marketing Automation) or them.
Customer data is valuable to create a marketing plan, shorten sales cycles and enhance the customer experience. Reaching out to loyal customers with a discount coupon, or an angry customer with an apology and a welcome back coupon can not only help maintain relationships, but a good customer experience will also bring new customers by word of mouth.
Bots: Chatbots and Robots
Chatbots respond promptly to customer queries, assist customers in real time, and send targeted messages to make the experience more interactive without human intervention. Though escalations may need a live agent. However, advancements in machine learning can help program chatbots to adapt to more complex queries.
Robots powered by intelligent automation are a new virtual workforceOpens a new window , which assists in the manufacturing industry. They can perform tasks like heavy lifting, stock and remove items from shelves, pack items, etc. AI can help improve efficiency and improve the quality of goods.
Inventory Management
Retailers are always in a dilemma while maintaining their stocks. If they have too much in stock, they have wasted money, which could have been put to use elsewhere and if they run out of stock, they risk losing customers to other stores. With AI’s optimization algorithms they can keep track and predict demand and supply and optimize on stock levels.
Logistics and Delivery
Apart from manufacturing and inventory management, AI can help in supply management and delivery. AI can provide supply chain visibility and insights into processes by tracking and predicting supply chain disruptions using data gathered from different sources.
Apart from these, AI can perform last mile delivery, which includes autonomous vehicles, delivery trucks, drones, etc. AI has access to data like origin, destination, journey, recipients that it utilizes to understand patterns and make informed decisions about how to plan, align information and manage delays.