Customer outreach
Decide
and buy
Receive and return
Customer service and loyalty
Source: Bain & Company
Select a retail area to see which of its processes have the most potential
Retail operations
Customer outreach
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Customer outreach
Decide and buy
Receive and return
Customer service and loyalty
Retail operations
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Decide and buy
Customer outreach
Decide and buy
Receive and return
Customer service and loyalty
Retail operations
Receive and return
Customer outreach
Decide and buy
Receive and return
Customer service and loyalty
Retail operations
Customer service and loyalty
Customer outreach
Decide and buy
Receive and return
Customer service and loyalty
Retail operations
Retail operations
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Generative AI potential | RETAIL
Generative AI potential | RETAIL
Generative AI potential | RETAIL
Generative AI potential | RETAIL
Generative AI potential | RETAIL
Merchandising
Store operations
Supplier joint business planning
Product design
Store concierge
Assortment architecture
Supplier communication
Planogram creation and compliance
Supplier management
Category recommendations
Report generation
Generate scripts, talking points, and reports to be used in supplier negotiations
Draft communication with suppliers and provide a chatbot
to handle simple questions
Help create and update a supplier database by aggregating and categorizing supplier information
Provide a summary of key metrics and advice for category managers
Generate summaries of daily to monthly operations and performance (e.g., for out-of-stocks, sales trends, etc.)
Help develop scenarios for store layout design informed by customer needs and trends
Draft options for new product designs, leveraging customer feedback and optimizing for criteria such as material efficiency and pricing
Generate recommendations for merchandise mix and localized store allocations
Draft proposals for planogram designs and analyze photos of existing planograms to assess compliance
A chatbot for store associates that recommends next best actions and standard operating procedure, and provides customer feedback synthesis
Store layout
In-store support and training for field staff
Supply chain management
Theft prevention
Foot traffic patterns
Sales assistant/expert advisor
Personalized exploration
Product information
Checkout and payment
Product recommendations
Enhanced search and exploration
Image-based models
Product visualization
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Product descriptions
Keyword generation
Product performance
Product page management
Personalized confirmation/receipt
Personalized and automated checkout
Personalized offers
Marketing
Customer insights
Media, loyalty, and engagement
Digital campaign creatives
In-store creatives
Marketing feedback
Smart view of the customer
Sentiment analysis
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Schedule delivery/pickup
Delivery and pickup
Make a return
Delivery/pickup status update
Targeted discounts
Schedule return
Collect return information
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Customer loyalty optimization
Customer connectivity and loyalty
Customer service
Customer segmentation and persona tuning
Agent co-pilot/chatbot
Post-purchase appreciation
24/7 online chat service bot
In-store chat assistant
Customer feedback
Interaction synthesis
A bot that generates personalized script recommendations, provides training tips, and answers questions for in-store sales staff
Help monitor inventory movement and levels to flag out-of-stocks, provide recommendations on managing clearance, and identify root causes of supply chain issues
Identify potential theft based on comparison of sales vs. in-store inventory reports
Summarize customer movements in store based on video footage to inform layout changes
Create customized visuals (e.g., banner ads, landing or explore pages) and marketing messages
Create content proposals for engagement materials (e.g., blogs, newsletters) and personalized responses to social media comments and interactions
Assist in creating marketing campaign content (e.g., text, images) and scenarios of content to test and analyze
Draft in-store content (e.g., displays, copy, print) based on local store or customer profiles
Summarize marketing campaign effectiveness and impact
Collect info and create summaries detailing client segments, characteristics, etc.
Monitor and summarize online sentiment (e.g., social media, online reviews, news mentions)
Use a chatbot to provide personalized sales assistance to customers by proposing products, responding to questions, providing recommendations, scanning ingredients to verify claims, etc.
Analyze customer info and generate product recommendations, explain why they’re recommended, and remind customers via email/text of products they’ve viewed but haven’t purchased
Enhance customer searches with interactive conversations and image/video to produce dynamic product searches
Generate custom avatars and/or incorporate photos for product modeling and testing
Create product visualizations (e.g., furniture in a home, clothes on customer, makeup on face, etc.)
Automatically generate product descriptions based on customer segments/profiles
Generate keywords related to a product and improve search/identification
Summarize product performance based on reviews, repair rates, etc., as well as trends to guide product development
Enhance product pages with custom/variable photos and optimize text for search engine optimization (SEO)
Automate personalized confirmation emails and receipts based on customer information
Generate personalized checkout screen messages (in-store and online) and automatically fill in checkout info based on customer data
Draft email/text notifications for scheduling a delivery or pickup
Draft email/text notifications regarding status of delivery or pickup
Draft communications, including email/text notifications for scheduling a return
Collect info to help coordinate return and summarize rationale for return
Generate personalized discounts at point of return (e.g., discount if returned in store)
Improve and increase loyalty program outreach frequency and communications through automated content generation based on member preferences and behaviors
Analyze customer behaviors to enhance customer segments and draft persona descriptions
Chatbot provides easy explanation of products/services and how-to guides for customers
Generate targeted discounts and other personalized offers after a purchase
A chatbot that provides automatic, interactive responses to customer inquiries
A tablet for shoppers with a chat assistant to handle FAQ and respond to in-store customer questions
Summarize customer feedback (e.g., top pain points) from transcripts, feedback forms, reviews, etc.
Collect, group, and analyze data from customer interactions to identify consumer pain points, best practices, etc.
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Customer outreach
Decide and buy
Receive and return
Customer service and loyalty
Retail operations