Customer service isn't just about having a pleasant attitude or adopting a "the customer is always right" policy. Those things are important, but they're only a few of the things a company needs to do to meet the needs of its patrons. Attitude and a willingness to serve become almost irrelevant if a store's shelves don't have the right merchandise, or a retailer does not offer the delivery or pickup model that meets a customer's needs. Currently, most retailers try to figure out the right mix to keep their customers happy using old-school techniques like observation and satisfaction surveys. Only 7% of retailers currently use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance customer service.

Customer service isn't just about having a pleasant attitude or adopting a "the customer is always right" policy. Those things are important, but they're only a few of the things a company needs to do to meet the needs of its patrons. Attitude and a willingness to serve become almost irrelevant if a store's shelves don't have the right merchandise, or a retailer does not offer the delivery or pickup model that meets a customer's needs. Currently, most retailers try to figure out the right mix to keep their customers happy using old-school techniques like observation and satisfaction surveys. Only 7% of retailers currently use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance customer service.

From time to time, usually on garbage night, the animals wander into Sivasubramanian's backyard to pillage his trash. But try as they might, he and his family had never managed to spot the intruders. "My wife really wanted to see these bears in action," says Sivasubramanian, Amazon's VP of machine learning. "She will always try to stay up looking for bears to visit, and she wants me to give her company." He founded his solution in DeepLens, a new video camera system from Amazon Web Services that lets anyone with programming skills employ deep learning to automate various tasks.

In this new world, businesses need to translate massive volumes of complex data at unparalleled speed into omnichannel insight, with streaming data analysis, visual foresight and streamlined machine learning. As we see the growing importance of data across the omnichannel, a new mentality and foundation is required. This new approach must weave data into a unified strategy that consolidates customer experiences and translates them into out-of-the-box strategies for engagement that drive category leadership and competitive differentiation, from Inventory and Supply Chain Management, to Customer 360 for Omnichannel Experiences, to Next-best Offer/Next-best Action Personalization. To make the most of new types of data in order to understand your customer's buying process in an omnichannel world, you must be able to analyze new types of data. It's your job to quickly correlate social data with point-of-sale systems, and even weather forecasts with wearable devices, in order to build an accurate picture of your real-time customers -- and potential customers.

While consumers may be cautious about AI, retailers are eagerly anticipating the technology's benefits. Roughly 54% of retailers surveyed by SLI Systems said they already use or plan to add AI tech in the future, with 20% expecting to add AI within the next 12 months. By 2019 about 40% of retailers will develop customer experience architecture supported by artificial intelligence, with such platforms providing up to a 30% conversion increase and a 25% revenue bump due to hyper-micro personalization, reported IDC Retail Insights. Meanwhile, global retail spending on AI will grow to $7.3 billion per year by 2022, up from an estimated $2 billion in 2018, according to a study from Juniper Research. Among retailers, many implementations and tests are underway.

In case you hadn't heard, retail is having a hard time as of late. Thanks largely to the ever-increasing influence of online shopping, some have even described it as a retail meltdown. As more and more people are forsaking the retail store, and giant names like J.C. Penney, RadioShack, Macy's and Sears shutter hundreds of stores, retailers are scrambling to find solutions for the crisis. In the end, for retailers who are unwilling to step into the future and unlock the advantages of big data, the prognosis does indeed seem bleak. However, there are also retailers willing to incorporate machine learning into their organization and take part in the new human-machine alliance.

"It's a fight for talent…It's like'Game of Thrones' out there," Erik Caldwell, chief operating officer for supply chain in the Americas and Asia Pacific at XPO Logistics Inc., XPO 2.83% said at an industry conference earlier this year, discussing the company's use of robots to fulfill online orders. The use of robotics and other automation technology in industrial operations is growing, although the vast majority of warehouse work remains largely manual. About 16.5% of organizations across several industries including warehousing are now using commercial service robots, and 21.5% have them in pilot programs, according to a 2018 survey of 600 respondents by research firm IDC. The holiday shopping season highlights a warehouse-worker squeeze that is driving more logistics operators to embrace automation, as the growth of online commerce pushes more retail sales from storefronts to distribution centers. Online fulfillment centers--where companies like Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -0.94% pick, pack and ship consumer orders--require two to three times as many workers as traditional warehouses.

The global study, carried out by Hanover Research on behalf of PROS, a provider of AI-powered solutions, reveals the expectations and digital initiatives of more than 700 companies. The respondents work for B2B organisations that sell to clients across a variety of sectors, including process manufacturing, discrete manufacturing, wholesale distributors and services. The report reveals that respondents think that the ability of AI to predict customer needs is the most significant way that it will impact sales, followed by automating orders and optimising pricing for buying scenarios. As a result of its impact, 73% of respondents believe AI will be a high priority for marketing and sales activities within two years, compared to 48% today. While 62% of businesses think more than half of their sales will come from eCommerce within the next five years, tripling the 20% achieved at present.

While the media is full of stories of retail woe, actual year-on-year retail sales are up in the UK. What does Artificial Intelligence (AI) add to this picture? It could help UK retailers reduce stock inventory by £23 billion. Or grow sales 30% faster. Or increase gross profit margins by 50%.

Forter, a company that uses machine learning to detect and prevent fraud in online retail transactions, announced today that it has raised $50 million in a series D funding round led by March Capital Partners, bringing its total financing to $100 million. Salesforce Ventures joined the round, along with previous investors including Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Global online retail sales amounted to more than $2 trillion in 2017, and this number is projected to reach more than $4.5 billion by 2021. But as online retail grows, so does online fraud. Account takeover attacks are on the rise, as are high-volume automated "bot" attacks and so-called policy attacks like coupon abuse.