Image: © nadia_snopek/Stock.adobe.com
Dublin Airport recently launched a fully automated store, while reports suggest the AI retail market is going to surge in value in the coming years.
With the ongoing hype surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), it seems that almost every sector is working to take advantage of this technology.
Retail is no exception, with the concept of a fully automated shopping service appealing to both consumers and businesses.
The latest entity to move into AI retail is Dublin Airport, which recently announced the opening of a new “concept store” that is fully automated. This store lets users have a completely contactless shopping experience by scanning their debit or credit card when they enter.
Dublin Airport said the shop is fitted with cameras and “weight-sensor-enabled shelving”, which are used to detect what a shopper has bought. The consumer’s card is then charged as they exit the shop.
The airport claims this is the first concept store of its kind to open in Ireland. But the concept itself is not exactly new, as some tech giants have been experimenting with automated retail stores for years.
The growth of AI in retail
One of the top names focusing on automated retail services is Amazon, which unveiled its first Amazon Go store in Seattle in 2016.
This initial store used a combination of computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning to make the company’s ‘just walk out’ technology. It functions in a similar way to Dublin Airport’s concept, with consumers getting charged automatically for what they walk out of the store with.
The concept appears to have been successful for Amazon, as the tech giant has its ‘just walk out’ tech in stores at dozens of stadiums, arenas and airports. The company claims to have 24 Amazon Go stores dotted across the US.
But while the concept of AI in retail has existed for a while, it appears to be gaining significantly more momentum. A market report published in June claims that the global market for AI in retail was valued at $5.5bn last year, but is expected to grow to $7.14bn this year and shoot up to more than $55bn by 2030.
This report also claims that the rise of AI-powered chatbots is one of the driving factors for this surge in growth.
Meanwhile, US retail giant Walmart is introducing new AI services into its stores. The company recently claimed that it is experimenting with various generative AI features to improve the shopping experience for customers.
These features include helping with store searches, assisting with complex purchases, voice commands while shopping with a mobile app and a combination of generative AI and augmented reality (AR). But while the retail giant is focusing on AI, there are also reports that it is cutting the starting salaries of new staff.
Other companies are teaming up to enhance their existing AI retail features. Accenture has developed its AI.Retail service, which uses data and AI to help retail businesses optimise servies such as pricing, promotion and customer acquisition.
Accenture recently partnered with Google to deploy this AI.Retail service on Google Cloud, to boost the type of services it can offer.
AI concerns
But while AI presents benefits for improving efficiency and making things simpler for users, this technology also presents risks around privacy and job losses.
A report from the Centre for Retail Research suggests this sector has been suffering a “crisis” for years, with factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic, rising inflation and the growth of online retail impacting jobs. This report claims there have been more than 56,000 job losses in the global retail sector this year already.
With the challenges facing the industry, it appears retail companies are turning to automation tech and AI as a way to cut costs. But the concern around AI impacting jobs is one that exists across multiple sectors.
A report by Goldman Sachs claimed that generative AI systems could replace up to 300m jobs worldwide. This report also claimed that roughly two-thirds of jobs in the US and Europe are exposed to “some degree of AI automation”, but noted that new jobs tend to be created when technology advances.
AI has also been shown to have the potential to improve retail security, with companies like Veesion using this technology to reduce the risk of in-store thefts. But there is also a concern around data breaches and privacy when it comes to AI technology.
A recent report that surveyed 4,000 consumers suggests 72pc of global shoppers have concerns around privacy issues when interacting with retail AI services. But despite this, 76pc of respondents are willing to provide personal information to retailers for cost-savings benefits.
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
