Why Retailers Are Failing to Act on Data

Retail in Motion: Shaping the future of African Retail #Africa’s #retail sector is undergoing a major shift, marked by rising digital adoption and higher customer expectations. With growth under pressure, the imperative for retailers is clear – to be more reliable and engaging with customers while reducing the cost to serve. However, fragmented system landscape and limited insights from data continue to undermine performance. The path to unlocking the full promise of transformation lies in seamlessly connecting processes, harnessing unified, context-rich data, and deploying AI in cross-functional workflows. Blessed Hwaire and I shared our perspective in this article - https://lnkd.in/dhN4wEcd We would love to hear your views. Nazia Pillay Johannes Dressler Dawn Hollingworth Dumisani Moyo Sherif Mourad Ghaleb Andre Bechtold Marc Nolla Shailendra Sahay Cristina Gonzalez Dr.Rahma BEAUGRAND Estelle de Beer Lynnette Shaw #RetailTransformation #BusinessTransformation #ai #sap #data #customerexperience

💎 Driving retail excellence: how @AG Barr cut store audit time by 50% with Visual AI We’re beyond excited to share a new case study with one of the UK’s most iconic drinks companies: AG Barr Group. IRN-BRU. Rubicon. Barr Flavours. This is a business with over 145 years of heritage that’s now raising the bar on retail execution by embracing Visual AI. Together with Aforza, AG Barr embedded Neurolabs’ image recognition directly into field workflows, unlocking: 🚀 50% faster store audits 🧃 300+ SKUs digitised ⏳ 96% data accuracy Field reps spend less time checking shelves and more time selling. Head office gets instant visibility. Execution get smarter and moves at the speed expected in the 21st century. Dive into the full case study: https://lnkd.in/evgfyJDZ #RetailExecution #ImageRecognition #CPG #AGBarr #Neurolabs #VisualAI #FieldSales #Aforza #RetailInnovation

Most retailers have advanced analytics, but decisions still move at yesterday’s pace. Every hour spent waiting for approvals or batch updates costs margin, ties up working capital, and erodes competitiveness. Agentic AI changes that. In this blog, we show how autonomous agents turn pricing and replenishment into real-time growth levers—executing decisions at market speed, without adding complexity. Are your systems just reporting data, or turning it into action? Read the full blog: https://lnkd.in/gMqWRhAG #AgenticAI #RetailTransformation

Arthur Zaczkiewicz’s latest feature dives into how Bealls, Inc. is using our agentic AI, guided by more than 10 AI agents, to scale expert decision-making across planning and inventory. Results so far: 80% adoption, 20% planning accuracy improvement; early adopters report +21% revenue and +14% gross margin with ~1-month ROI. Read the full newsletter here: https://loom.ly/TGgaClM #AgenticAI #RetailAI #ArtificialIntelligence #DataDriven

Together with @Constructor, we surveyed 1,500+ global shoppers to uncover how they’re discovering, refining, and deciding what to buy. The 2025 State of Ecommerce Report explores: What builds (and breaks) trust at checkout The real state of personalization across onsite, offsite, and AI-powered experiences How cultural differences shape the shopper journey across markets We also unpack key findings — from broken search to checkout friction — and share how leading retailers are adapting. 👉 Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/gKpjiFtU

Having worked with global retailers for many years, it is exciting to see how AI continues to create significant value - in this case, in an area I am extremely familiar. However, whilst AI can drive significant impact, the 10:20:70 rule remains ... 10% of value comes from the algorithm; 20% from the data; 70% from the changes to processes and employee behaviours. Read more about it in our publication https://lnkd.in/grxZk4_D #GenAI #AIinRetail #RetailTransformation

𝐈𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞? Our new blog post dives into the essential trends in retail digital transformation. Learn how to leverage technology for improved customer experiences and operational efficiency. 👉 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞: https://lnkd.in/gSCWryr4 #Retail #DigitalTransformation #BusinessGrowth #WaferWire #WCT #RetailTransformation #AI

🚀 When every second counts, how fast can your data turn into decisions? Tchibo, a 75-year-old retail giant, rewrites its business every week. With 100 new products in stores & online, yesterday’s data becomes stale by tomorrow. Their solution? Real-time graph analytics with Neo4j. ✅ Queries in the UI now respond in just 22 milliseconds. ✅ Teams across marketing & analytics can ask plain-language questions and act immediately. ✅ More than just speed — this is about relevance, agility & turning user behavior into insight in the moment. If you’re in retail (or any fast-moving industry), imagine the impact: personalized experience, better conversion, fewer missed opportunities. https://lnkd.in/eq-TQ2R2 #RetailTech #GraphDatabase #RealTimeAnalytics #Neo4j #DigitalTransformation #CustomerExperience #AI #Tchibo #Innovation

https://buff.ly/fPYzaiY With the holiday season right around the corner, retailers are thinking about booming sales and January returns. And, not surprisingly, AI is poised to play an even bigger role in 2026 than it did in 2025. Check out this Forbes article on how AI redefined the 2025 Holiday Season. How are you thinking about leveraging AI this holiday season? For the TL:DR crowd here are some key trends we saw last season: Returns fraud and validation: Retailers deployed AI, like image recognition, to verify that the returned item matches the product sold, reducing fraud. Logistics innovation: Data analytics + AI were used to optimize last-mile delivery, routing, and inventory flows more tightly to demand. Customer experience for returns: Improving the returns process (faster, less friction) with tech helped both cost control and customer satisfaction.

AI was meant to help small retailers compete with giants. Instead, 73% say cost is locking them out. monday.com’s latest study exposes the growing divide in retail tech.