AI is a trend, a buzzword, and a marvel in cutting-edge technologies–but what’s the reality behind the hype?
Google and Zitec got together to discuss the latest AI trends and translate them into real-life solutions that retailers can apply to transform their businesses.
Google Cloud’s client portfolio includes many of the world’s leading retailers and a vibrant network of innovative local and regional players.
In fact, retail is a top priority vertical for Google Cloud, and we are one of those rare providers that has a bespoke solution for retailers, with all the complexities and challenges that retailers actually need. Examples include our industry-leading Recommendations AI, Search for Retail API, Product Discovery tools, etc. This focus has led to numerous customer success stories.
Zitec has over 20 years of building bespoke digital platforms, mobile apps, and eCommerce solutions for the retail and distribution industry, delivering across 30 countries in the EU. We have catered to various B2C, B2B, and B2B2C platforms to help retailers capture new market segments and revenue in today’s digital economy.
Leading companies from sectors such as:
Don’t only entrust us with their full software product development cycle, but expect us to be digital business partners who can help them transform and scale their e-business, delivering seamless shopping experiences, operational efficiencies, and competitive ROI. In 2023, our digital retail solutions and services registered a robust over 45% YoY growth.
Retailers are on a difficult mission every day. Consumer behaviors have changed tremendously as digital adoption increasingly becomes the norm. For instance, personalized offers that are delivered in real-time, delivery options right to the doorstep at the consumer’s convenience, and expert advice or recommendations to help with buying decisions.
They expect a lot more as they get smart about what technology can offer, and these expectations are pushing the boundaries of retail models and practices.
Digital transformation for retail is no longer a mere checkbox, a choice or a standard. It’s a high-bar pursuit in many different ways, influenced by business needs, such as
Our most successful retail customers share three common factors when it comes to digital transformation.
Innovation can come from transformative projects, but also from small feature enhancements that delight customers. While measuring ROI on innovation might be a challenging task (especially for long-term efforts), focusing on initiatives that create a clear competitive advantage with the help of AI solutions is a strategic way to start.
In a crowded market, retailers can stand out by delivering exceptional customer experiences across channels. Focus on key areas such as:
Google Cloud offers particularly strong solutions to address these areas:
Retailers must adopt a dual approach when calculating ROI for their digital innovation endeavors: revenue generation and cost reduction. For revenue-generating digital products, it's crucial to conceptualize them as an entirely new business line, with strategic business and market planning as well as execution to maximize profitability.
As for reducing costs, automating business processes as much as possible can significantly improve profit margins and lower operating expenses.
Central to both strategies is cloud technology, offering efficient, flexible, and scalable infrastructure. With cloud solutions, retailers can swiftly deploy new digital initiatives, such as hyper-personalized, seamless omnichannel experiences, ultimately increasing revenue streams. Additionally, cloud technology presents substantial opportunities for cost reduction by ensuring uninterrupted operations while optimizing resources – and enhancing overall resilience.
Businesses usually have a fixed investment and are looking to anticipate the specific revenues from it. It's essential to adopt a more strategic approach. Envision how the investment can scale over time by identifying what aspects of the business have a multiplier effect to expand and receive investments accordingly.
AI technologies, especially given recent advancements, truly have the potential to transform the Retail Industry as we know it. The key is ensuring the chosen solution delivers the most significant impact for your specific need. Cloud hyperscalers, such as Google Cloud, accelerate this process, providing access to powerful computing resources and leading-edge AI models (see Gemini) at reduced costs. This frees retailers to focus on innovation and their core business priorities instead of managing infrastructure, AI development, and research.
At the same time, it is also important to understand that not all retail use cases require AI as a technology solution, either alone or as part of a hybrid solution. However, retailers cannot always be expected to know the difference between the hype and the reality.
That’s why we guide customers to collaborate with experienced partners like Zitec, who can help them identify essential use case requirements and investments, validate potential solutions through an agile Proof of Concept, analyze ROI, and then confidently move to production or address the next priority.
Retailers must follow several pivotal steps to approach an AI-driven digital product effectively. Begin by identifying the use case scenario that is core to a specific business need. It might be low customer retention, cart abandonment, or low basket value. Whatever it is, the AI implementation will vary greatly.
There are two types of business scenarios for AI applications:
So, once a critical business scenario is identified, the next step is to explore and define a Proof of Concept (POC) to validate the hypothesis and contain the test parameters. It's important to define and ensure some level of success before making significant upfront commitments or scaling the implementation broadly. This mitigates risks and provides valuable insights into the feasibility and potential of AI outcomes.
Given that various AI technologies and new data are emerging to serve different purposes, retailers cannot be expected to know what’s what, let alone have all the necessary data, skills, or talent to develop an in-house solution from scratch.
This is where tech partners like Google and Zitec, who work in a multitude of scenarios, technologies, and data sets, can save retailers a lot of time and money.
Take, for example, Google's pre-built product, RecommendationsAI. With access to extensive volumes of data from retail customers that continuously enrich the AI algorithms, it has been extensively tested across numerous retailers. This makes it an excellent option to build on because it offers fewer risks than building an AI product from scratch in-house.
Retailers should not look at AI as something that has to be all-or-nothing. A measured approach, focused on addressing specific use cases with clear goals and limited scope that can expand over time, will help retailers navigate these complexities. Having a trusted partner will also simplify the journey.
At Google, we see privacy as a continual effort. Google Cloud provides robust security, adhering to strict security standards and constantly adapting to evolving standards.
For the retail industry, we partner closely with retailers to deliver focused privacy controls and tools that can help them protect their customer's data and comply with data protection regulations. We advise incorporating data governance while piloting use cases to confidently check responsible data collection and usage practices supporting customer privacy and long-term AI success.
Retailers can address technical complexities if they have the right strategy for implementing AI, by following the strategies I previously outlined.
When it comes to security or data privacy concerns, consumers today are well aware that tailored recommendations rely on their data inputs. This emphasizes the importance of informed user choice – those seeking highly personalized experiences engage with the system, while others retain the option to opt out, particularly under EU regulations. We are lucky that the GDPR anticipated this and guarantees data storage within the EU, forbidding any exchange with external data centers so that AI operates within defined parameters.
Due to this, AI providers in the EU are actively working to enhance confidence by offering better guarantees. Businesses and consumers definitely have to be extra careful if they are dealing with free and non-regulated products. However, with advanced solutions like Vertex AI from Google, data control rests firmly with the user.
It’s also worthwhile to point out that contrary to popular belief, companies can leverage a lot of publicly available data without compromising individual privacy. This means that personal or proprietary data remain anonymous while collective or frequent behavioral data patterns are favored to train AI algorithms that can deliver user benefits.
We partner with Zitec experts and leverage Google’s data and scale to offer tested AI models, retail specific solutions, and cutting-edge research to drive co-innovation for retailers. We have a track record of delivering high-value Proof of Concepts using our extensive Partner Program where Zitec has brought their established retail expertise, delivery force and speed to impact tangible results.
Elevating customer experience stands as the leading advantage of integrating AI into retail operations. As a Google Cloud Premier Partner, we help retailers leverage the full potential of Google's solutions. Whether we're talking about:
Our main objective is to deliver business impact that our customers can build on.
So, if you are considering the best way to use and implement AI, come and talk to us. Zitec can help you tailor a POC strategy to address specific business needs and objectives, leveraging our expertise to demonstrate the tangible benefits and working off Google’s proven AI products to save time and generate better ROI of AI implementation.