Retail sales and price projections are typically based on time series forecasting. For some product categories, the accuracy of demand forecasts achieved is low, negatively impacting inventory, transport, and replenishment planning. This paper presents our findings based on a proactive pilot exercise to explore ways to help retailers to improve forecast accuracy for such product categories. We evaluated opportunities for algorithmic interventions to improve forecast accuracy based on a sample product category, Knitwear. The Knitwear product category has a current demand forecast accuracy from non-AI models in the range of 60%. We explored how to improve the forecast accuracy using a rack approach. To generate forecasts, our decision model dynamically selects the best algorithm from an algorithm rack based on performance for a given state and context. Outcomes from our AI/ML forecasting model built using advanced feature engineering show an increase in the accuracy of demand forecast for Knitwear product category by 20%, taking the overall accuracy to 80%. Because our rack comprises algorithms that cater to a range of customer data sets, the forecasting model can be easily tailored for specific customer contexts.

Artificial Intelligence has grown massively over the past few years. You would have noticed how it is making the businesses strong and sufficient with its capabilities and power. From managing the customers at your store to improving their overall experience to providing them with personalized solutions, there is a lot that the technology can do for your eCommerce outlet. AI, though it is implemented in most businesses, is still a futuristic technology. According to a report by PwC, this technology will contribute close to $15.7Tn by 2030 to the global economy.

What was the last thing you bought online? Why didn't you go to a store to buy it? Was it for the vast number of items you could scroll through before making a choice or the recommendations that the website or app pulled up for you, remembering your choices and interests from a previous visit, or the ease with which you paid for it with a card whose details were already stored with the website? The online shopping experience is leaps and bounds ahead of the traditional experience in terms of using data and technology to provide unique and personalized customer experiences. While brick and mortar stores also have their own upsides, the move towards omni-channel retailing today is key.

What was the last thing you bought online? Why didn't you go to a store to buy it? Was it for the vast number of items you could scroll through before making a choice or the recommendations that the website or app pulled up for you -- remember your choices and interests from a previous visit, or the ease with which you paid for it using a card already saved on the website? The online shopping experience is leaps and bounds ahead of the traditional experience in terms of using data and technology to provide unique and personalized customer experiences. While brick and mortar stores have their own upsides, the move towards omnichannel retailing today is key.

If you haven't wasted the last few years searching for evidence on extraterritorial life in the distant corners of the world you'd have surely heard about Artificial Intelligence or AI! Together with Big Data, this is transforming the world. In a world where access to data has become easier, computing power is at historical lows on the cost side and algorithms have been programmed to think and react like a human mind, the power of AI is truly being unleashed. The impact of AI is being majorly felt in the retail industry where it is creating a store like an experience on online platforms and at the same time arming brick and mortar stores with technology that narrows the game between them and online retailers. AI in shopping was first tried in the world of e-commerce and this wasn't surprising as online retailers had been at the forefront of adopting new technology. But the brick and mortar stores have been slowly catching up.

If you haven't wasted the last few years searching for evidence on extraterritorial life in the distant corners of the world you'd have surely heard about Artificial Intelligence or AI! Together with Big Data, this is transforming the world. In a world where access to data has become easier, computing power is at historical lows on the cost side and algorithms have been programmed to think and react like a human mind, the power of AI is truly being unleashed. The impact of AI is being majorly felt in the retail industry where it is creating a store like an experience on online platforms and at the same time arming brick and mortar stores with technology that narrows the game between them and online retailers. AI in shopping was first tried in the world of e-commerce and this wasn't surprising as online retailers had been at the forefront of adopting new technology. But the brick and mortar stores have been slowly catching up.

Artificial Intelligence and consumer behaviour are a partnership that we are going to see much more of in the coming months and years ahead. That's because our shopping behaviour is highly individual and complex. Getting to grips with it takes businesses a good deal of time, effort and money. Even though psychologists understand a reasonable amount of shopping behaviour, most of those studies have been conducted in "real world" brick and mortar stores. That kind of research has enabled retailers to design shops that encourage more buying.

Sentient also released a new solution to AB testing called Sentient Ascend. Right now, the conversion rate optimization, CRO, industry, is based on AB testing, where you test a new design against an old design. "We decided we could transform this industry by completely dissolving the concept of AB testing, by thinking of the website no longer being a static property, but a dynamic property that is always evolving based on the way it interacts with your audience. We wanted to enable the marketer to make changes to quickly see market and conversion rate improvements. Our solution points to the fallacy of AB testing, where you come with a defined preconception of what to test against. We want to open the floodgates and show people that they don't have to limit themselves to a test. The number of possible combinations is so large that it's impossible to explore the surface exhaustively or comprehensively, except with an intelligent system that learns from every interaction, and understands from that learning what matters, what doesn't, and progressively builds solutions," says Blondeau.

Populism is sweeping the nation, but it's likely just getting started. Donald Trump's win is a wake-up call that voters are angry with a system that's made middle-class jobs tougher to come by, and increased inequality. As pronounced as the trend already is, it's only just the beginning, experts say. Looming technological advances will wipe out more jobs, broadening the base of disenfranchised, unemployable and frustrated citizens. Meanwhile, elites with the skills to flourish in the digital economy will get richer.