How AI can help Grocers with Category Planning

Factspan
3 min readDec 9, 2021

“Seventy-eight percent of industry executives agree that AI will revolutionize the way we gain information from and interact with customers.” — Source

AI in grocery? You heard it right! Consider a world where you know exactly how many workers you’ll need for a shift. Ever wondered how useful it would be to already know which products to offer a discount on or maybe run a sale? Consider a supply system that has the ability to consistently provide the right amount of items at the right time. This future is not far anymore, it’s high-tech and futuristic, and it’s here knocking at your door!

The digital grocery world is evolving with how quickly and smoothly AI and cloud-based solutions are entering the domain. Days are not far when fully-fledged cloud build category planning platforms will operate at grocery stores. Here’s how AI can help grocers with category planning and more, so let’s explore.

  • Supply Chain Optimization

AI can solve complex supply chain problems by optimizing the processes. Humans may have a hard time stepping back and taking a look at their business but AI certainly can do this. Managing store inventory, analyzing the manpower needed in a particular shift, delivering products at the right time, balancing the demand-supply, optimizing the supply chain inventory, etc. AI in grocery has got you saved with all the necessary steps taken in order to prevent grocery store wastage. This is not just useful to nullify wastage but can help boost sales for the grocery store distributors.

Are you interested to read more? Check here: How Retail Analytics can Boost your Sales

  • Robo-run Supermarkets

Robot-run supermarkets are the new talk of the town. It’s quite evident that giants like Amazon, Kroger, etc. are already using AI robots in all their facilities and fulfillment centers. Substantially, Kroger is using self-driving cars to deliver groceries from their stores to customers. These Robo-run vehicles are such that they announce to customers once they are to arrive, customers can access their products with a code and get their groceries at their doorstep. The power of AI in grocery is ever-evolving.

  • Targeted Ads

The majority of the population checks products online and this is where grocery stores can take the leverage of data. All the shoppers like personalized recommendations on the products they would like to buy. And, personalized shopping is something that makes them feel more valued thereby making grocery shopping faster and easier.

Food retailers are beginning to realize that loyalty programs can help them compile a database of a customer’s purchases over time. Then AI may use that information to figure out which products to advertise to customers in order to entice them into the store, add another item to their shopping cart, and improve customer retention as well.

In conclusion, AI has reached a noticeable milestone when it comes to solving complex data problems and optimizing the processes at retail and grocery stores. Yet, so much has to be achieved in the coming future which seems revolutionary and promising.

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