Application Of Cognitive Computing In Retail

Cognitive Computing deals with running life problems in human life thought processing and analyzing it. Through analysis of problem, Algorithms are generated by system in order to gain self-learning capabilities. Nowadays We can use cognitive computing in various platforms like Artificial Intelligence, E-commerce, cyber security, Image processing. In this paper usage of cognitive computing in retail is discuses.

Introduction

Cognitive Computing deals with simulation of human thought processing and analysing it. Through analysis, Algorithms are generated by system in order to gain self-learning capabilities. IBM Retail solutions offer long-standing commitment and investment in leading-edge mobile partnerships, cognitive computing solution development, acquisitions and research that provide disruptive creativity and take a new approach (new business models) to solve business problems like We face an overwhelming amount of data in every industry. Greater than 2. 5 PB data of customer data stored by Walmart every hour. 292 Exabyte of mobile traffic by 2019. up from 30 Exabyte in 2014. 1TB of data produced by a cancer patient every day. Cognitive system are creating a new partnership between humans and technology that Solutions include integrated systems of record, systems of engagement and systems of execution that span all phases of the consumer’s brand experience and all channels of brand interaction to consistently deliver on the promise of customer-centric retailing.

Cognitive computing is already redefining the retail industry worldwide Opportunities for cognitive insight in the retail industry will continue to grow in the near future. Cognitive computing is all the buzz these days, and it is expected to make a huge impact on the retail industry. Consider the following stats from IBM Institute for Business Value’s recent report. 91% of retail executives familiar with cognitive computing believe it will play a disruptive role in their organization, 94% intend to invest in it and Some numbers, there’s no doubt we can expect to see some interesting applications of cognitive technology in retail.

Traditional analytics, while effective across many areas, are constrained in exploiting the full value of exponentially expanding data. Big data has been called the new natural resource. And this resource continues to rapidly grow in volume, variety and complexity. Business data is estimated to double every 1. 2 years. Many retailers lack capabilities to make full use of available data, thereby creating a performance gap.

Cognitive computing in retail

To make any cognitive computing system, we need the help of big data, machine learning, and cloud computing. Here we discuss how we can use cognitive in retail and how to improve also need of improvement.

A. Conquering industry forces

The retail industry is experiencing unprecedented disruption. Retailers must embrace new technologies to address these changes. In the recent past, the store was the cornerstone of all retail transactions. However, new and sophisticated digital technologies have helped shift the entire retail paradigm. Five specific forces are changing the retail landscape:

Expanding customer expectations: Customers are empowered and their expectations continually evolve and expand. Customers expect retailers to offer convenient, responsive and personalized services. For example, a recent IBM study revealed that 48 percent of customers say it is important for retailers to provide on-demand personalized promotions when online, while 45 percent want the same options in store.

Self-serve retail: Customers are assuming ever-greater ownership over their personal retail journeys. Today’s customers have almost limitless choices in their discovery and inspiration about what to buy. They are not constrained by time of day or location in transacting. Customers use numerous self-help technologies in their interaction with retailers – price checkers, self-checkout payment lanes, mobile apps and payments, and information kiosks, to name just a few. This trend will only increase in the future.

Technological progress: Technology has redefined the ways in which retailers interact with customers. Yet, many retail organizations struggle to keep up with technological change. More than 80 percent of retailers agree that having mobile apps represents a key advantage over the competition.

Eroding margins: Prices of many consumer goods have been falling, driven by intensified competition and global sourcing. At the same time, retailers have been experiencing cost inflation in rents, salaries and strategic investments in such areas as technology. Retailers are also expressing growing concern about declining customer loyalty and profitability. For example, a leading retailer notes that its profitability online is less than half compared to in-store.

Security breaches: Incidence and implications of identity theft and credit card fraud have increased.

Malware attacks targeting point-of-sale systems and systems of record, in particular, are becoming more common.

B. Make cognitive personal

To date, mobile retail solutions have mainly focused on pushing customers personalized promotions. Thinking apps provide retailers new innovation possibilities to truly personalize the experience and drive sales. The power of cognitive enables sales assistants to interact with customers more effectively, answer their questions quickly and help them along in the buying process by identifying the best options for a consumer’s specific needs. Consider this holiday shopping season.

Many stores have hired new employees for the busy time of year. By leveraging apps that “think, ” employers are able to quickly train and scale up worker expertise in a way that until now has never been possible.

As online shopping continues to grow, the power of cognitive computing and mobile has the ability to transform the in-store experience for shoppers during the holiday season and beyond.

C. Already at work in retail

Utilizing weather data: Imagine the power of combining shopper history, location information and buying trends with weather data. The combination of these insights is powerful in helping retailers to maintain optimal inventory levels to meet targeted customer needs — for example, sending a mobile notification of a sale on umbrellas just as a customer is approaching a retail shop on a day when rain is expected.

Accessing insights from mobile payments: In some parts of the world, the use of mobile payments has become a primary form of doing transactions. With customers using smartphones for a majority of transactions, retailers can gain access to additional data and insights on spending trends and shopper history. They can work with ecosystem partners to deliver the personalized experiences retail customers want — such as offering a mobile payment option for the convenience of a customer who is making a purchase while on the go.

Opportunities for cognitive insight in the retail industry will no doubt continue to grow in the near future. All of these opportunities are made possible through the use of cloud-based services and powerful analytics tools with cognitive capabilities. Below given some brand already using AI to improve services.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has launched an online Chatbot for its small-business customers designed to field some of the most commonly asked questions. The bot, called “Luvo”, can understand customers ‘questions and help resolve problems such as lost Pins or cards.

Dutch airline KLM is equipping its customer service agents with an AI Chatbot that suggests answers to customers’ questions based on that person’s data. The company describes it as “the best of both worlds – a timely answer, a correct answer and a personal answer. The best of humans and the best of tech. ”

MasterCard is using a bot called Kai to allow users of Facebook Messenger to check activity on their accounts and set up financial management tools. Another bot for merchants allows customers to buy something by sending a Facebook message and pay for it with MasterCard’s digital Wallet. Given brands are using Al to offer personalization customer love:

The online fashion and accessories brand Roztayger provides AI-powered inspiration to guide fashionistas in their browsing. Shoppers can get personalized recommendations of the labels that will best fit their own, individual style – based on their Facebook activity, Twitter feed, or a description they provide of themselves. What people like, the comments they make and pictures they post are all part of the ‘Designer Match’ analysis.

Luxury carmaker Bentley has created the Inspirator app, which uses facial-recognition technology to guideBuyers towards the perfect SUV for them. The Inspiratory presents a series of images to the viewer and deduces a preference from their responses.

Bear Naked granola invites online shoppers to blend their own recipe made from their choice of more than50 ingredients, from jalapenos to pomegranate. ‘ChefWatson’ assesses your combination and judges how tasty it’s likely to be against its understanding of the flavors that tend to work well together. So adding curry to your pineapple and choc-chips returns a low ‘flavor synergy’ score. Pecans score better as a tasty alternative.

D. The In-store retail Imperative: A Return to Relationships

30 years ago the owner of the corner store knew each customer by name, what kind of gifts husbands wanted for their wives and what kinds of items families picked up each week. Over time things have changed. Retail shops merged into multi-category super markets and department stores and ownership consolidated into larger, and larger chains. Throughout this process, customer intimacy was soon replaced by operational efficiency. Sales people began lacking the insights about their customers, let alone the ability to create personalized experiences.

Retail shopping vintage

In the following decades, a number of new innovative retail channels evolved such as catalogues, call centres, TV home shopping, and eventually e-commerce. All of these new channels made shopping more convenient in some ways. But the reality remained that retailers had done little to create one-to-one personalized relationships.

Despite the unparalleled advances in technology and the evolution of e-commerce, retail is returning to its in-store roots as shoppers around the globe turn to bricks & mortar outlets for that tangible interaction with the brand.

A recent Time

Trade study found 85 percent of consumers still prefer to shop in bricks-and-mortar stores because they like to touch and feel what they buy.

There is also no doubt that in-store sales are heavily influenced by digital technologies. Studies have shown more than half of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase, so this kind of online research is now part of many shopping journeys before visiting a store. One of our findings from our client work and research is that the last great shopping experience drives a customer’s expectation for the next. Recent customer experience research from IBM recommends retailers constantly experiment with new innovations both online and in-store to remain relevant to ever-evolving consumer demands and expectations.

The results show there is a significant opportunity for retailers to improve their customer experience capabilities: on a scale of 0 to 100, the overall Customer Experience Index average was only 33. The in-store experience was the lowest scoring category. Across a range of in-store services, including recognizing customers when they walk in the door and offering product comparison tools, the majority of brands provided either only limited capabilities or none at all. For example, 84 percent of brands offered no in-store mobile services, and 79 percent did not give associates the ability to access a customer’s account information via a mobile device.

E. Connecting Innovations to Support the New retail experience

As customers walk into retail stores today some of the first things they notice are interactive kiosks and screens offering convenience and fast new ways to find and pay for items. These electronic displays serve a very useful, customer-specific purpose, but there’s much more to this story than what meets the eye.

Recent data from the U. S. Census Bureau still shows that less than ten percent of all retail transactions happen online. Retailers with traditional brick-and-mortar stores that are committed to connecting the dots between underlying IT infrastructure and customer-facing digital technology have the best opportunity to continue thriving in the digital age.

But creating that underlying infrastructure is complicated, often involving dozens of vendors with distinct technologies like networking, security devices, point-of-sale, printers, employee systems, inventory management, and more. And all of this tech must work as one integrated unit to deliver a new and improved store experience.

With most of this technology positioned behind the scenes, customers might never fully realize its impact on the trip they just made to buy diapers for their children, refill a prescription, or just grab a late-night snack. Nonetheless, an IT environment that is supported in a comprehensive way can have a positive impact on the future of an entire business. It can lead to more effective and concentrated IT support, more accurate data insights that IT professionals and business executives can use to outperform the competition, and a more loyal customer base.

IBM, with our multivendor support services, is now doing just that for American retail giant, Walgreens. With the help of retail analytics tools, IBM will support all hardware and software across more than 8, 100 Walgreens locations, emphasizing efficiency and availability of technology, as well as proactive measures in the face of potential disruptions.

From a practical point-of-view, companies that embrace this type of IT environment are doing a great service to both their customers and employees. Consider that if inventory records systems are constantly kept up-to-date and credit card scanners are running smoothly, employees are more confident and performance improved. Likewise, customers who have more hassle-free trips to the store will be more likely to return on a regular basis.

F. Cognitive in Branding & new customer recruitment

here are countless ways in which Artificial Intelligence tools can be used to help retailers and brands improve their business and better serve their customers. We’ve distilled them into four key challenges that are giving sleepless nights to CEOs and marketing directors of retail and manufacturer brands.

In each of these sections, we outline the challenges facing brands and retailers, and look at how Artificial Intelligence can be used to tackle them.