The entire retail industry talking about how to implement artificial intelligence into store operations and planning, and visual merchandisers want to find the right AI solution.
At One Door, we talk to visual merchandisers from several retail sectors who struggle to understand how to synthesize their needs with AI.
Here’s how to think about AI in visual merchandising:
How to Use AI in Visual Merchandising
Marketing & Generative AI
Generative AI is artificial intelligence that generates images, text, videos, and other media in response to inputted prompts. Mo
According to McKinsey, generative artificial intelligence can help visual merchandisers expand their marketing efforts more than ever before. Retailers can prompt genAI to create plans, product images, POP content, and marketing ideas for each store.
For visual merchandisers, generative AI can save time, labor, and money.
Dynamic Planogramming
Because generative AI can answer prompts, you can include store planning data and ask genAI questions like, “What products should I put in a 5,000-square-foot convenience store near a college town?” (That’s exactly what the ARC Space Planning Community did, and ChatGPT had a lot to say.)
However, most genAI is based on language machine-learning models. That means, unless you use a photo-specific generative AI tool, ChatGPT can’t create or edit planograms.
For dynamic planogramming, retailers have to use a visual merchandising platform with AI capabilities, like One Door.
Personalized Product Recommendations
Combining generative AI and demographic and sales data, visual merchandisers can deliver personalized product suggestions based on individual stores.
This can include customer behavior, store layout, and other localization items, but taken a step further. The personalization from the AI improves the shopping experience and drives sales.
In-Store Customer Analytics
Combining AI and analytics is a way to give visual merchandisers a strategic leg up with their plans.
Retailers can move, collect, and consolidate data with a technology platform to find important information quickly and concisely. AI-powered analytics can include:
- Sales data
- Product performance
- Demographics
- Localization information
- And more
AI can quickly analyze these customer analytics to point out trends and develop predictive strategies. Visual merchandisers can gain deeper insights into customer behavior, preferences, and demographics.
With a better understanding, retailers can optimize store layouts, store teams, and product placement strategies to create a more seamless and personalized shopping experience.
Predictive Strategies
AI algorithms can analyze market trends, pricing fluctuations, and customer demand to suggest changes in real time. Visual merchandisers can use these predictions to:
- Maximize profitability and sales
- Optimize inventory and product placement
- Remain competitive in their specialty industry
- Be more agile in store planning
Computer Vision Compliance
Computer vision in visual merchandising gives countless hours back to retailers that need to monitor how stores execute plans by efficiently analyzing images provided by stores.
This is especially useful for monitoring display execution and performance, POP content, and more. Computer vision learns how to identify the compliant and non-compliant. This helps visual merchandisers save countless hours manually correcting or approving displays in every store.
Image Recognition
AI-powered image recognition enables visual merchandisers to analyze store images and identify areas for improvement.
From optimizing product displays to assessing store layout effectiveness, image recognition helps visual merchandisers gain better store visibility. They can better understand how their displays and products look and quickly understand if the display is making an impact.
Issue Remediation
With computer vision, AI can learn what to do to help store teams fix an in-store issue without needing HQ intervention. AI can display how to fix a display, order more or different print content, or know the exact step they went wrong with product placement.
Every day there’s so much more AI is capable of doing.
Unfortunately, if you’re not using it to get ahead, you’re falling behind. It’s time to adopt AI and learn how to drive sales through visual merchandising alongside the right solution.
Still not sure where to start? Talk to a visual merchandising expert today to learn more about how AI can help you create retail success.