The consumer in-store retail experience is undergoing a critical evolution, and it's clearly upended the retail industry: in the first four months of 2017 alone, there have been fourteen retail bankruptcies -- almost as many as in all of 2016. Other companies, such as J.C. Penney, Macy's, and Sears, have announced massive store closures. While putting together Firebrand Group's Future of Artificial Intelligence report for our clients (you can get an excerpt, focused on retail innovation, here), my team and I reviewed nearly one hundred brands engaging in some form of retail innovation. Starbucks already allows people to order remotely and go into their retail locations to pick up drinks, and is presently deploying an AI assistant into their app. Called My Starbucks Barista, the feature will allow users to place orders with one tap of a button, then speaking to a virtual barista.