Partner viewpoints

Matt Frank, chief AI and innovation officer, Ancoris

The reality of many emerging technologies is often that there are limited public references, and little benchmark data to help organisations build the financial or business case for expansive investment.

Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen the evolution of AI push organisations to think differently and reimagine how they approach the same or new problems.

Now, more than ever, retailers are 'thinking big' about how technology can solve their biggest business challenges – be it through conversational commerce, smarter recommendation engines, or back-office efficiencies through process automation.

But actioning these ideas to create something tangible requires fast action, pockets of experimentation and an appetite to do something now.

Ancoris is helping enterprise organisations action experimentation and find tangible ways to expedite their innovation process. Whether that’s through hackathons or rapid prototyping, the goal is always the same: produce something demonstrable that enables the business to build a business case and plan for production, ultimately solving the business problem.

The opportunity for retailers to transform how they interact with customers, optimise how they run their businesses and gain competitive advantage is enormous – but getting started requires purposeful actionable experimentation.

James Lovell, retail client director, IBM UK

As we’ve seen from the profiles of the top 50 retail innovators, AI is a major investment focus for many of the world’s biggest businesses. Working closely with many of our largest retailers in the UK, I've seen firsthand the transformative power of AI in enhancing customer experiences, improving operational efficiency, and driving revenue growth. However, it's crucial to ensure the use of AI is both ethical and governed, as IBM and its clients must maintain trust and comply with regulations. IBM's AI Governance Framework provides a structured approach to managing AI responsibly, ensuring that AI systems are transparent, explainable and fair. By leveraging AI responsibly, retailers can deliver personalised experiences, optimise supply chains, and gain valuable insights into customer behaviour and market trends. 

Consumers want AI to simplify the shopping journey and IBM is committed to helping retailers responsibly navigate the complex landscape of AI in retail. This involves investing in AI-powered customer engagement platforms, optimising operational processes, and fostering a culture of experimentation and learning. By doing so, retailers can unlock new revenue streams, improve customer satisfaction and, ultimately, drive business growth. For example, the report reveals that AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can improve customer satisfaction by 25%, while AI can automate 30% of retail tasks, freeing up staff to focus on higher-value activities.

The IBM Institute for Business Value report provides a valuable roadmap for retailers looking to embark on their AI journey responsibly. By understanding the strategic imperatives and recommendations outlined in the report, retailers can make informed decisions about their AI investment and ensure they stay ahead of the curve while maintaining ethical standards. I'm committed to helping my clients navigate the complex landscape of AI in retail responsibly and unlock its full potential for success using IBM's AI Governance Framework.

Prabhu Ramaiah, Head of Retail Business, Wipro UKI

Based on the adoption of AI and technological innovation, you could categorise the retail market as follows:

• Leaders: With the Advent of AI, there are some bold movers highlighted in this report. A few retailers like Ahold have put an AI engine in front of consumers and Co-op is trialling robots for deliveries, while John Lewis is exposing store staff to AI for better enablement.
• Challengers: Some retailers don’t want to test AI on consumers, favouring back-end process efficiency, for example Morrisons’ AI solution on payment anomaly detection developed in partnership with Wipro.
• Followers: Other retailers only want to adopt proven use cases already in market. We see many retailers deploying software lifecycle management tools or AI-based LLM models for content generation.

Whichever category retailers fall into, the majority recognise the advent of a technological evolution and are building the foundations to evolve. This could be digitisation, modernisation, cloudification or optimisation in multiple areas of their IT landscape. The significant investments made today on these foundational elements remain extremely critical for the long-term success of retailers in this ever-evolving technological environment.

However, if retailers fail to build their foundations now, it may be too late when customers fully embrace AI, irrespective of which AI adoption category retailers belong to today.