Which AI applications are playing a role in automation or augmentation of the retail process? How are retail companies using these technologies to stay ahead of their competitors today, and what innovations are being pioneered as potential retail game-changers over the next decade? Innovation is a double-edged sword, and as with any innovation results are a mixed bag. While many AI applications have yielded increased ROI--this case study of AI in retail marketing segmentation is one example--others have been tried and failed to meet expectations, shining a light on barriers that still need to be overcome before such innovations become industry drivers. Below are 10 brief use cases across five retail domains or phases.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba launched its'glimpse' into what the future of fashion is last month, a project it has called FashionAI. Alongside Italian fashion house Guess, it created a pop-up concept store on the Hong Kong Polytechnic University grounds, to show Guess's retail experience, alongside Alibaba's latest AI technology. Alibaba will now look to integrate the FashionAI technology into new projects and with other brands but The Drum caught up with Menglei Jia, Senior Staff Engineer, Vision and Beauty, Alibaba Group, senior staff engineer, vision and beauty at Alibaba Group, to find out how the collaboration with Guess had been received. According to Jia, the FashionAI project has been underway for a long time. "FashionAI is a new artificial intelligence concept that aims at exploring new format for fashion stores for the future. We have devoted almost seven years to develop, train and refine this technology that will ultimately create a difference to both customers and retailers."

Solvvy's innovative AI-powered conversational platform enables effortless support interactions between businesses and customers Solvvy, a conversational platform powered by AI, announced today that Aragon Research, Inc. has named the company a 2018 Hot Vendor in Conversational AI1. Solvvy was selected based on its advanced AI and NLP technology and the measurable impact of cost savings and quality of service it delivers to its fast-growing customer base that includes leading brands such as Under Armour, SoundCloud, Weebly, and Atlassian. "Solvvy's advanced self-service capabilities and conversational platform can be put into production with minimal effort and immediately begin solving customer issues," said Jim Lundy, CEO and Lead Analyst at Aragon Research, Inc. "They provide fast time-to-value while improving the overall customer experience." According to the report, "Self-service is becoming accepted and pervasive across industries and roles: From supermarkets and big-box stores to online shopping, people are becoming accustomed to less interaction with human help. They are discovering that they can check out faster, find better answers, or explore new ideas more easily and less expensively if they control the processes themselves."

More targeted offers and promotions. Fine-tuned frequency and send times. These are some of the mechanics of email tasks marketers are looking to AI to help improve. "With tools such as Bluecore and Custora, we are able to learn from the customer's past behavior and also anticipate what customers want to purchase - as well as the timing for when they want to buy," says David Gottesman director of digital marketing at Teleflora. "This allows Teleflora to create a strategy with automated triggers for every stage of the customer lifecycle, helping build brand loyalty and keep the customer coming back." Gottesman can't help but like what he sees.

It brings back so many memories to put that VHS into the machine and listen to it spin. As technology continues to develop, we begin to find new ways to enjoy our favorite things. We are disrupting old industries that probably twenty years ago we never thought would change. We swipe the digital pages of an eBook, pick our favorite movie from a list of thousands in an app and hear headlines of self-driving cars hitting the market. We all knew it was coming, right? I mean it makes sense to have a repository of movies in an app rather than having to drive to a video rental store.

Dozens of members of Congress joined forces to request Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos explain the recent "Rekognition" facial recognition flap that misidentified 28 members of Congress as suspected criminals. Bezos does have some questions to answer. It's the least he can do after his artificial intelligence software mistook the faces of more than two dozen lawmakers for mugshots in police files. The American Civil Liberties Union first found the discrepancy; Reps. John Lewis and Tom Garrett, contacted by The Washington Times for response, put out a bipartisan statement, along with Rep. Jimmy Gomez, criticizing the technology. Several other affected members of Congress contacted for comment by The Washington Times failed to respond.

I've been to dozens of retail-related conferences in the past year, most of which were attended by retailers, brands and early-growth companies seeking to gain traction in the retail ecosystem. Over the year, I've seen a continuous increase in the number of AI-driven technologies and companies showcasing solutions for retailers. I've also observed growing interest in these innovations among retailers. Because as multichannel retailers continue to fight age-old problems such as inaccurate inventory, stockouts and overstocks, overstretched and undertrained store associates, and suboptimal pricing, advances in AI targeting these problems are proving their ROI. AI, or machine intelligence, is human-like or intelligent behavior exhibited by computers and machines that are "trained" by data to make autonomous decisions.

For some time now eCommerce has been around and growing, and it isn't showing any signs of slowing either. In 2014 online stores worldwide sold around 1,300 billion US dollars and they're expected to sell 4,800 billion US dollars in 2021! With figures like those it's clear that nowadays the problem eCommerce faces has nothing to do with getting people to buy online but with how much online competition has grown! As the owner of a small online store, there's no way you can compete with the giants, and you shouldn't try! But how do you manage not to compete? Well, the answer is simply customer engagement.

All retailers have models for predicting market response to new products, but with cutting-edge new fashion items and revolutionary products that have no historical sales data, it can be difficult to gauge the market success the items might enjoy. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the answers, says Vian Chinner, CEO of local start-up Xineoh. AI tools – the evolution of early recommendation engines – are already delivering on their potential to accurately predict customer behaviour, improve retail sales and enhance customer experience. Born-in-SA Xineoh, whose team of data scientists has gained global acclaim for their pioneering predictive algorithms, is already helping South African organisations improve their ability to predict customer behaviour. In fact, Chinner is so confident of the solution's ability to deliver measurable improvements that he offers new customers a money-back guarantee of satisfaction.

The pressure to deliver a positive customer experience has never been greater. Real-time access to information and the ease of comparison shopping have elevated expectations and radically changed the buyer's journey. How customers are treated has a profound effect on future transactions: Those whose problems are resolved with minimal effort are far more likely to repurchase goods or services and increase how much they spend. Do a great job, and they will reward you with more business. According to the Consumer Expectations in 2018 report from Avionos, 17 percent of consumers are willing to share even more personal information during the buying experience if it means Amazon can better anticipate their needs.