A Closer Look at Top Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trends in Retail

The retail industry is experiencing unprecedented transformations as our world becomes more interconnected. Evolving technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), generative AI, and blockchain are driving this change. Retail businesses are increasingly relying on these technologies to improve customer shopping experiences at stores or online. With the endless possibilities that AI and data science present, the question is: What retail transformations can we expect from AI in 2023? 

Top areas where we expect to see AI revolution in 2023:

Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Summarization

AI-powered sentiment analysis is revolutionizing the way businesses interact with customers. By analysing conversations, AI algorithms can identify emotions and determine the tone of the discussion. Leveraging Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, businesses can decode customer conversations in real-time, gaining deeper insights into buyer sentiment. 

Opinion summarization is crucial for retailers to understand customer feedback and improve their business strategies. By incorporating a broader analysis and summarization of emotions like fear, anger, joy, sadness, disgust and surprise, retailers can stay ahead of their competitors in an ever-evolving market. This process condenses a large set of opinions into a concise summary, providing businesses with actionable insights and a clear picture of customer needs. 

Hyper personalization of Products

Once retailers clearly understand customer needs, they can use AI in retail to further transform their product catalogs and deliver personalized experiences. By using ML algorithms, retailers can enrich product catalogs with metadata, categorization and personalized recommendations, resulting in more relevant search results for customers. This provides a competitive edge and helps retailers stay ahead of the curve in today's fast-paced retail landscape. 

Market studies indicate customers are more likely to shop with brands who recognize, remember and provide relevant offers. Notably, Walmart Global Tech is already using AI in retail to improve product suggestions and catalogs. This has helped Walmart's retail operations immensely in entering the new era of personalization. For instance, during the last holiday season - which is the busiest time of the year - AI helped us predict the number of pumpkin pies needed by our Sam’s Club members!

Retail Logistics Optimization with NeuroMLRS

Beyond sentiment analysis and personalization, AI can also help in logistics and supply chain optimization. NeuroMLR is a new and growing area of interest that combines neural networks and multiple linear regression (MLR) for machine learning tasks. It aims to enhance the interpretability of traditional neural networks, which can sometimes be difficult to understand due to their complex structure. 

NeuroMLR can be a game-changer in the field of retail transformation by providing an efficient solution for route optimization.  It can analyze complex data and provide insights on the best routes to take for maximum efficiency.

Variables such as traffic patterns, weather conditions and delivery locations can be optimized for better efficiency, reduced costs and improved delivery timelines.   

By tapping on such tech solutions, Walmart Global Tech is enabling the world's retail giant to provide high levels of customization, convenience and customer confidence. 

Our recent flagship summit AI @ Walmart is a testament to how we are harnessing the power of AI and exploring the new frontiers of retail.

AI @ Walmart: Powering Retail Technology

During the summit held in April 2023, top industry experts, innovators and Walmart associates came together to explore and discuss the latest advancements and prominent trends of AI technology in 2023 and beyond. Spread across seven sessions, we discussed different topics like convergence of sports and AI and its use in finer profiling of customer sentiment, hyper-personalization, delivery optimization and more. We also presented multiple case studies on how Walmart Global Tech is leveraging AI to enhance its capabilities in the retail sector. All in all, AI @ Walmart was a teaser of how AI will revolutionize our near future and the role Walmart Global Tech is poised to play in this paradigm shift. 

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