Retail Robotics & AI Conference Takeaways

Executive Summary

The Coresight Research team recently attended the Retail Robotics & AI Conference on April 26 in San Francisco. Here are our top takeaways from the event:

• As consumers increasingly rely on technology when they shop, the retail industry is nearing a state of “retail singularity” in which bots, natural language voice interfaces and broadly integrated data react to and predict the what, when and why of shopper preferences and behavior.
• Store-based retailers need to integrate the best of the online and offline shopping experiences in order to create synergies that help unlock new potential, said Jeff Donaldson, CEO of Intriosity and former SVP of GameStop.
• Consumers are increasingly opting to engage in experiences that create the illusion of participating versus spectating. The rise of Amazon has coincided with this cultural shift.
• Coresight Research CEO and Founder Deborah Weinswig commented that China is a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics in the New Retail environment, where the integration of online and offline retail, logistics and data across a single value chain is essential. AI and automation are the keys to making everything work, she noted.
• Mark Mathews, of the National Retail Federation (NRF), said that the retail technologies that are resonating most with consumers are those that enable them to buyonline and pickup in-store, navigate in-store and pay by mobile device.