Artificial Intelligence

  Photo: Matt Middlebrook   Heralding it as first for real estate development companies, Caruso Affiliated CEO Rick Caruso announced the formation of a Strategic Development and Innovations division focused on helping retailers harness new technologies serve a complex and fluid customer base.  

Smart mirrors are a ‘cool’ in-store technology, but facial recognition software is another story entirely.      Those are among the findings of a new survey by RichRelevance, a provider of omnichannel personalization technology. The company surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. and U.K. consumers about how technology can impact their in-store shopping experience, highlighting the  differences between what shoppers thought was ‘cool’ and ‘creepy’.  

It’s important to look beyond the traditional hard metrics of ROI to determine the bottom line value of an IT solution. Here are five key areas CFOs need to consider when evaluating technology:

1. Sales growth: There are many types of applications that can drive increased sales, but some of the most common are solutions that optimize pricing, including markdowns. Determining the ideal price for maximizing sales without cutting profits at a store level is too complex for merchants to do on their own.

About two-thirds (64%) of the United States is covered by prescriptive lighting rebates, according to BriteSwitch, a rebate fulfillment company. These rebates can significantly reduce the installed cost of new lighting in existing buildings and improve payback by 20% to 25%, which would reduce a two-year payback to about 1.5 years.

Reflexis is a leading provider of real-time store execution and workforce management solutions.

While Tractor Supply Co. broadly applies advanced analytics across the enterprise, BJ’s Wholesale Club is using analytics as a point solution.

Looking to offer a more targeted and competitively priced assortment, BJ’s is rolling out the price suite from merchandise optimization technology provider Revionics. The technology will help improve customer-centric prices while taking the competitive landscape into account.

An average food retail store leaks an estimated 25% of its refrigerant supply per year. The majority of refrigerant leaks, which are caused by a number of factors, occur in racks and cases. For an individual store, this loss can add up to a sizeable annual expense; for a regional or national chain, the costs can be even more substantial. Additionally, associated labor costs and the potential loss of business because of service disruptions when fixing a leak should be factored in.

Today, when it comes to adding new members to your board of directors, creating a balance between industry experience and innovation is extraordinarily important. Filling board seats with industry veterans and compliance experts may feel comfortable in the short term, but to adapt to today’s savvy and demanding consumer, companies must be more forward thinking.

We’ve all witnessed the recent evolution of the C-suite — companies bringing in new, young talent, often from other industries, to modernize a brand, enhance the store experience or to leverage technology.