AI & New Retail: Recent Developments and Future Trends

The traditional retail industry is facing challenges as the rapid development and continuous improvement of AI tools and techniques ushers in the era of New Retail. Many once-successful brick and mortar shops are at risk of disappearing altogether if they fail to adapt to the changing marketplace. As the concept of "New Retail" spreads globally, many Fortune Global 500 retail companies are implementing AI technologies such as computer vision and NLP in unmanned stores and warehouses or virtual stores, and are accelerating supply chain upgrades to better position themselves for the future of shopping. Global Retail Industry Market Size The steady growth of the global economy and per capita disposable income have triggered a surge in the retail industry over the past few years. The global retail industry market was valued at nearly US $23.5 trillion in 2017, a 5.3 percent year-on increase.