The Next Step for Retail AI Is Bringing It Into the Store

At NRF’s big show this year, brands and start-ups were looking at ways to translate AI’s powerful analytical capabilities to brick-and-mortar retail.

It’s time for AI to get physical.

At the National Retail Federation’s annual conference in New York this week, one opportunity discussed by both brands and start-ups was bringing AI analytics into stores, which remain the largest source of sales for many fashion businesses.

H&M and Tapestry each highlighted it as a top priority during a talk on the next technological game changer in retail. Tapestry is investigating a mix of computer vision and machine learning to gain insight on the demographics of customers coming into its stores, how they’re walking through the space and how they’re engaging with products and sales associates, according to Trang To, the company’s vice president of omni. H&M is similarly looking into what Ellen Svanström, its chief digital information officer, called “ambient intelligence” that makes use of sensors.

A key goal is to bring the same level of data analytics many companies already apply to e-commerce into physical retail. Online, brands are able to track what a consumer is clicking on, which products they’re searching for, how much time they spend on a page, where they drop off during checkout and more. Equivalent data on the in-store experience would have the power to transform store design, merchandising and the work of store associates, To said.