One Key to Pandemic Retailing: Artificial Intelligence

That's key, since inconvenience is the enemy of sales. The pandemic wreaked havoc on supply chains, which, coupled with consumer reluctance to buy nondiscretionary items, reduced data earlier this year. Retailers that could afford AI could adjust, often by tapping nontraditional data. "Mobile is the new mall," says Cowen analyst Oliver Chen, who notes that machine learning allows brands to build one-on-one relationships with consumers at scale. That's part of the rationale behind Walmart's bid for TikTok, which provides data on how younger shoppers engage with brands via social media.