CSP Staff
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is now the No. 1, fastest-growing technology the world has ever seen, said Brian Gray, managing director at Accenture, at a general session at the NACS Show in Las Vegas this week. It far outpaces the internet and the iPhone.
“Those that embrace technology will win in the future, and those that don’t won’t,” he said. “So don’t wait. Take advantage now. Get educated and learn about what’s really going on.”
The convenience-store industry has an opportunity to reimage the shopper experience using AI, he said. Read on for four examples of how a retailer can use the tech to enhance operations and customer experience.
Spot and Capitalize on Local Trends
Not all stores should be the same, he said, and speaking to the demographic of a location is important.
AI can help retailers ideate what offerings would work best for different stores.
He gave the example of a retailer asking an AI tool, like ChatGPT, what kind of offerings would be successful in a convenience store that a bike trail runs by. The technology might come back with ideas such as a do-it-yourself smoothie bar, selling bike-related products, having a bike repair station and hosting events for local bikers.
This process isn’t going to accomplish everything, he said, but it’s a good starting point. C-store retailers can then modify their search and get more information and ideas on how to complete goals like this.
AI Forecasting
Another use case for AI includes forecasting inventory, he said. AI can make analyzing data easier and result in less food waste.
Gray described an example where a retailer asks AI what the seven-day forecast is.
“It goes and scrapes all those different data sources,” he said. “It figures out the weather. It figures out the bikers going by and actually comes in and says, ‘here’s your forecast. Here’s what we get to go order.’”
This can tell a retailer things like the weather, events going on in the community and other reasons that might increase or decrease sales and in what ways, all in a matter of seconds.
“What’s crazy about this is not just the AI forecasting and ordering, but it’s having a conversation with your data,” he said. “That’s the key thing. We’re not looking at reports and spreadsheets and dashboards and all this kind of stuff.”
Employee Experience
Hiring and retention increases in the convenience retail industry is the third use case that Gray shared.
He walked through the potential process, starting with a customer scanning a QR code at the fuel pump to learn more about a job opening. This could also lead to a portal that shares realistic expectations for the job so that a candidate knows what they’re getting into, hopefully raising retention rates. When the customer scans it, an AI assistant can start conversing with the customer via messaging and ask about prior experience and availability.
This “screening” saves time for the hiring manager, who can then get a simple breakdown from the AI of who the top candidates are and why they should consider offering them interviews.
After someone is hired, Gray said, AI can keep tabs and converse with employees on how they are performing, what they need help with and more. Gray highlighted that this example of AI, like the many other use cases, is not taking away jobs, it’s reallocating resources.
Personalizing
AI cameras call provide an abundance of information from an image of a car pulling up to a fuel pump, creating a method for retailers to learn about customers even if they aren’t part of a loyalty program.
It can describe the type of person who most likely owns the car, and details on the car, such as fuel type. It can identify how many people are in the car each time it comes through, if there are any children, if it is a repeat customer, understand the probability that they will make a purchase, what their average spend is and factor in environmental details that might influence their decisions, like time of day and weather.
Gray said that this can lead to better offers for each guest that are personalized. He said it is also an interesting idea to pair this type of technology with retail media networks.
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