The Christmas season brings a boost in sales to retailers. However, as we continue to recover from pandemic bottlenecks and supply chain delays of more than a year, retailers have recognized the need for smarter strategies to optimize forecasts and allocations.
antuit.ai Co-CEO Yogesh Kulkarni.
Antuit.ai co-CEO Yogesh Kulkarni.
Businesses can increase their vacation profits by investing in omnichannel technology that enables better decisions and better sales performance.
Artificial intelligence in retail is changing the game of forecasting and allocation, offering greater accuracy and greater impact on profits. But despite the technology available, many retail companies have not implemented updated tools and are suffering from the consequences. AI provides deep insights into critical demographic data so retail businesses can make accurate forecasts and make precise allocations.
The most important thing for retailers this holiday season is their inventory management strategy. AI enables retailers to create a rich omnichannel experience, maintain customer loyalty and increase sales by optimizing inventory, reducing errors and ensuring the product is in the hands of the customer where and when they want it .
AI-controlled omnichannel strategy reduces the error rate
According to NielsenIQ's Omnishopping Fundamentals Survey, 40% of shoppers are “omnishoppers and buy from brands' online and personal offers”. The pandemic certainly contributed to the spike in ecommerce sales, but company storefronts still played a vital role in the consumer experience. An omnichannel retail strategy ensures that customers' needs are met however they interact with the brand. And when the omnichannel strategy is based on detailed, specific and reliable predictions, it can change a brand's profit margins.
Retailers need omnichannel technology powered by artificial intelligence so that they have a single source of truth when forecasting future demand. With the increasing complexity of the shopping experience – both online and in-store – retailers need precise tools that work at the same time. It is completely ineffective to make forecasts with isolated sets of information and keep the in-store forecast and the online forecast separate.
Retailers can only achieve the level of accuracy they need in this area if they have accurate data to draw from. AI-powered omnichannel forecasting technology provides detailed demand forecasting so companies can get accurate information and make better decisions based on specific details.
Retail companies retain customers when omnichannel and AI are used
As we move into the holiday season this year, there is a very good chance that customers will shop both online and in person depending on product availability (as many consumers have already expected, there will likely be some difficulties with Christmas shopping due to the supply chain and inventory shortage last year Year). An omnichannel strategy is therefore essential for retailers who want to capture the interests of these customers regardless of how they shop.
According to the Aberdeen Group, companies with comprehensive omnichannel strategies retain 89% of their customers, but companies that do not invest in omnichannel strategies have less engaged customers. AI enables retailers to be more precise in both inventory management and replenishment so that when these customers return to the store (either online or in person), products will be available as they want to buy.
AI-powered software helps companies determine which products are selling the fastest, where they are being sold, and what needs to be replenished. In addition, the AI becomes more precise over time, providing accurate insights into this unique consumer's shopping preferences. This helps retailers determine when to have sales, discounts, and promotions at the best times for each individual store or demographic, and only replenish products that they know will continue to sell in that location, causing the sale vastly improved.
Omnichannel retail marketing strategies are most effective when they are based on AI-powered insights. Artificial intelligence is able to describe consumer behavior in detail across all channels and markets. This information is invaluable as retailers head into the holiday season looking to maximize their profits and reduce margin erosion. With the AI in their hands, retailers can develop highly accurate and highly profitable omnichannel retail strategies.
About Yogesh Kulkarni
Yogesh Kulkarni is Co-CEO and Head of Customer Success at antuit.ai, now part of Zebra Technologies. His core competence lies in the conception, development and implementation of price optimization, promotion and revenue management solutions for retail and consumer goods companies. Over the course of his career, Yogesh has gained extensive experience managing large transformative analytics programs for retailers and consumer brands in the areas of merchandising, pricing, inventory management and marketing.
About antuit.ai
Antuit.ai, now part of Zebra Technologies, is the world's leading provider of AI-powered SaaS for accurate needs assessment and advanced omnichannel merchandising solutions. Antuit.ai is pushing the boundaries of transformative change in retail with its innovative technologies that enable retailers to make faster, smarter and more profitable business decisions. The most respected Fortune 1000 retailers and brands have chosen antuit.ai to provide hyperlocalized demand tracking that forms the basis for omnichannel-aware precision of their demand forecasting, planning and merchandising solutions, including range and size optimization . Forecast, allocation and replenishment; and lifecycle prices. Antuit.ai helps its customers influence and predict consumer demand to provide accurate, reliable information to improve execution from supply chain to merchandising to marketing – all on a single, AI-driven platform. Real, quantifiable results set antuit.ai apart from the competition.
