India's Retail Sector Turning To AI For Chalking Out Business Plans
Indian retail sector is using AI for better analysis of their operations, which helps them draw better strategies to improve their business
Artificial intelligence is the buzzword today, and sectors across the Indian corporate diaspora are trying to incorporate this machine intelligence into their day-to-day operations to bring efficiency to their businesses. So is India's retail sector.
Indian retail sector is using artificial intelligence, or AI, for better analysis of their operations, which helps them draw better strategies to improve their business, said Atul Rai, co-founder and chief executive at Staqu Technologies Ltd., a company that offers AI-backed software for security and analytical services.
Staqu Technologies, with around 100 clients, including Raymond, Starbucks, Cafe Coffee Day, and Chaayos, provides AI services through a software named Jarvis, which is installed and connected with CCTV cameras, making cameras "smarter". The cameras then upload all textual, audio, and visual information to the client's cloud, where various AI tools developed by Jarvis can analyse this data.
From tracking criminals for better security to understanding customer trends in a particular retail showroom, the software uses AI to draw the required inferences from a set of complex data.
Retail firms are provided with tech services such as footfall analysis, heatmap analysis, dwell time analysis, and even audio and video analytical tools through Jarvis, Rai said. This aids business managers in comprehending customer preferences, product preferences, over- and under-utilised areas in a specific area, and gender- and age-specific trends, he said.
Not only do these tools assist retail firms in identifying their premium customers and members, but they also provide them with relevant offers and discounts to keep them engaged. Queue management and demographic analysis were some of the other benefits that retail firms gained from using such AI tools.
"These insights can be very useful for analysis, planning strategies, and even advertising purposes," said Atul Rai. This helps to improve the bottom line by saving costs and utilising expenses in a specific way. Using AI, some retail firms have seen a 60% improvement in their operational efficiency, he said.
Raymond, in one of the testimonials, said that this technology has helped the company understand the preferences of their customers and identify changing trends with the help of services such as footfall and gender analysis.
The clothing and beverage industries widely use this technology, according to Rai. "Offline stores don't know much data about their operations in this detail when compared to e-commerce platforms; hence, offline stores benefit the most from it," he said.
Customer data collection entails compiling and tracking individuals' data, which may raise concerns about privacy breaches. Staqu is seeking approvals for collating such intricate data for analysis and other regulatory barriers associated with it, Rai said.
"We are not gathering any private database; the whole data is on the customer's own database, and it doesn't go to Staqu; it is stored on the customer's cloud." he said.
On breaching the privacy of customers Atul said that such technology involves identifying people as objects and tracking the number or count to understand trends in footfalls and preferences. The technology does not store any personal information or customers' facial features and expressions. Rai explained that the software automatically blurs the face.
"To keep this in check, we are among the few companies that go through GDPR auditing every month. In addition, we adhere to global compliance rules," he said.
The software does not identify premium customers based on their finances. "We are marrying customer data with sales and a mobile number," Rai said. "So when a customer shares their mobile number, we track what they have been shopping for and offer them discounts on products of their preference," he added.
Rai said, "We have various defense systems that don't capture the private information of individuals, as well as security purposes." We adhere to all defence protocols and global privacy standards.
Staqu, which is also known for offering AI-backed security services during the Ram Mandir Ceremony in January and the G20 summit, said the software worked on criminal records shared by the local authorities to identify criminals or suspects.
