Tech Tip — Embracing AI: How Retail Leaders Can Thrive in the Future

With the buzz around artificial intelligence (AI), it’s natural to have concerns about how it might impact our industry. Questions about job security and role changes are expected. However, the reality is that AI is less about replacing jobs and more about transforming them. By leveraging AI, we can enhance efficiency, improve customer service, and create more time for strategic activities.

I wanted to share my thoughts on how AI impacts our future and highlight how embracing this technology can make us better leaders. We’ll explore how AI can streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and ultimately lead to a more dynamic and responsive retail environment.

Before I get too far into this, a level of due diligence is still required (and likely always will be) to understand how your conversations and information will be protected. This can be especially important if you feed large amounts of company information into any system. This should not immediately scare you away but urge a healthy sense of caution and understanding. The second caveat is to ensure you validate sources and information that comes from any AI-generated information. There are still many instances where the information can be conflicting, only partial in nature, and sometimes flat-out wrong. AI is not at a state where you can type something in and take the information at face value. (And I do not see that happening anytime soon, which is another reason the evil computer overlords will not replace humans.)

Understanding AI and Its Capabilities

Artificial intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines designed to think and learn like humans. We are already exposed to many forms of AI each day in our personal and work lives. You've been exposed to AI if you search and read information on Amazon. Those recommendations come from artificial intelligence, which is used to match likely combinations of products. Reviews are summarized by AI to provide more value for the potential purchaser. At work, if you have used any type of automated scheduling system, you have been exposed to some level of AI. The replenishment system that ensures you receive the right amount of product is driven by a form of AI. (And we all know there is still work to be done there.)

What AI is best at right now, especially for typical business or leadership purposes, is analyzing large amounts of data and making sense of the information quickly. Think about the manual nature of pulling sales information by day for the last six months and then trying to figure out where the biggest product or even category opportunity is for your store, your district, or region. Having a computer pull the data, analyze it for trends, and compare it to others for potential is a routine task for any individual that might take hours and likely would still be limited in its scope. That starts to paint the picture of what AI can do for us in our roles.

The Changing Landscape of Retail Roles

AI’s role in retail primarily involves automating repetitive tasks, allowing leaders to focus on more value-added activities. By reducing the time spent on scheduling and analyzing sales data, we can focus more on supporting our team on the sales floor and identifying opportunities to boost sales. This shift in focus brings significant benefits.

Instead of fearing AI will replace jobs, we should see it as a tool to augment our capabilities. By having AI handle routine tasks, we are engaging with our team and our customers and building future initiatives to improve the experience and results. These are all things that computers, algorithms, or even mobile devices powered by AI cannot complete.

Exploring and learning the Possibilities

Once we embrace that this change is upon us and recognize the benefits it can bring and that it is something to understand, not fear, we can begin to reap the rewards. The best action we can take right now is to educate ourselves on the options and possibilities. This will be a fast-changing environment for the next several years to come. As I write this in the summer of 2024, information I could provide now will likely be outdated in less than a year. While some principles will hold true, the options available are likely to explode in the next six, twelve, or eighteen months. ChatGPT stormed onto the scene in late 2022 and made the discussion around generative AI a common topic. Since then, the number of websites, businesses, videos, articles, and news reports has exponentially grown. That will only continue.

Learning what is possible and how to leverage the potential is the critical step that we can take as individual leaders. Looking for relevant use cases that will add value versus novelty will begin to separate the fad from the productivity of these tools. Many of the ‘gee-wiz’ things we see in a short video or even demonstrated by companies like Apple, Google, or Samsung are cool but not necessarily practical. Building your knowledge base of what is possible, combined with your routines and what would add value to your role or life, will separate out the best solutions. ChatGPT cannot do everything. It is a starting point for many things. There are more specific tools available for other needs. If you require a short video to help a team member understand how to handle a situation better, ChatGPT might provide some options, but it doesn’t create a video. Other tools can make the video from the information you provide, which can then be used to share with different audiences.

Imagine being a Store Manager or District Manager with a specific training need. You could outline the desired results, provide context for relevant situations, and reference other sales training. This would enable you to create a concise, thirty-second video to reinforce steps for a new employee. That is possible right now.

Arming yourself with information and critically analyzing what it really means in a practical setting will set you apart from people who do not want to think about what AI might mean to them. I am sure we have all joked about a parent or family member who never embraced what computers can do or the power that exists in everyone’s hands each day with our phones. That could be any of us in the upcoming years. The time is now to learn and understand what AI can do, what it can be, and the value it can offer us in the coming years ahead.

What have you started to learn about AI? Are you using it for anything in your daily life?

Quick Summary

(This section is completely generated with AI, no edits except for formatting. The following ‘prompt’ was used to generate what is below: Can you provide a 50-70 word summary of this article, and provide 4-5 key bullet points as takeaways for it?)

With AI's growing presence, retail leaders may worry about job security and role changes. However, AI is more about transforming jobs by enhancing efficiency, improving customer service, and freeing time for strategic activities. By understanding and embracing AI, retail leaders can better navigate this technological shift and lead their teams more effectively.

Key Takeaways

• AI as a Transformative Tool: AI is set to redefine, not replace, retail roles by automating repetitive tasks.

• Operational Efficiency: Leveraging AI can streamline operations, making data analysis and scheduling more efficient.

• Enhanced Customer Experience: AI-driven personalization can significantly improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• Strategic Focus: AI allows leaders to focus more on strategic planning and team development by handling routine tasks.

• Continuous Learning: Staying informed about AI advancements and understanding its applications is crucial for future leadership success.

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