Richard Humphreys |
The impact that generative AI has on productivity in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail sector could be worth $400 billion to $660 billion a year, according to a recent McKinsey report. It is a space that is truly being transformed by artificial intelligence.
Customers shopping online today do not expect to scroll through multiple reviews and make comparisons. They expect a summarised, cross referenced and intelligent review, curated by AI. The retail and CPG sector is also one in which customer persona is at the core, and generative AI applications can revolutionise its manifestation. To this end, there is a need to also go beyond customer engagement alone and focus on more fundamental usage of generative AI in retail and CPG experiences.
By 2025, 94 per cent of retail chief information officers think they’ll be using AI/machine learning, and this has given us immense potential to take tailored solutions and make an impact in this industry.
At Infosys, we are leveraging the Microsoft AI ecosystem to create offerings across the entire retail value chain. We have offerings addressing the three pillars in retail and CPG: in-store, e-commerce and back-office operations. Taking a persona-based approach, we have created tailored solutions using Microsoft copilots, extensions and Microsoft Copilot studio. We have generative AI offerings addressing challenges across inventory management, product management and insights, streamlining operations across stores, merchandising, sales cycles as well as self-service enablement for end consumers.
We have found generative AI to be an effective tool to empower the retail workforce. We took the approach of creating multiple AI agents, which will be supervised by a master agent, across retail personas, paving the foundation for autonomous agent interactions across retail personas, with humans in the loop.
By automating tasks, improving efficiency and providing personalised support, we see benefits for retail employees to excel in their roles and contribute more effectively to the overall success of the retail business, while ensuring customers are better served across personalisation in products, campaigns and issue resolution.
Rithika Hannah Messiahdas is an innovation and consulting lead in industry and AI offerings, and Madhan Karthikeyan Anbalagan is a delivery manager and head of AI, Microsoft Practice, at Infosys
This article was originally published in the Summer 2024 issue of Technology Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.