Retailers Are Getting Smarter About AI PYMNTS.com

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are starting to play a bigger role in retail, foreshadowing what's to come in the new decade of the 2020s. Walmart, for instance, hopes to reduce checkout theft by turning to cameras powered by AI, with deployments underway in some 1,000 stores. "The retailer began investing in the surveillance program, dubbed Missed Scan Detection, several years ago in an effort to combat shrinkage – loss due to several causes including theft, scanning errors, waste and fraud," the report stated. "The AI-powered cameras were rolled out to more than 1,000 stores about two years ago, and the retail giant has seen positive results since then, according to [Walmart spokeswoman LeMia] Jenkins, who said shrinkage has reduced in stores where the cameras have been added." By incorporating visual recognition technology and artificial intelligence into their business models, retailers such as Neiman Marcus, IKEA, H&M and west elm are leveraging mobile devices and AI to provide advanced customer services.