Retail Analytics in the New Normal
IEEE Engineering Management Review 52(1), pp 268-280 under the title "Retail Analytics in the New Normal: The Influence of Artificial Intelligence and the Covid-19 Pandemic."
Posted: 10 Mar 2022 Last revised: 26 Apr 2024
Date Written: November 24, 2023
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the retail landscape and has accelerated the adoption of innovative technologies. A striking example relates to the proliferation of online grocery orders and the technology deployed to facilitate such logistics. In fact, for many retailers, this disruption was a wake-up call after which they started recognizing the power of data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). In this article, we discuss the opportunities that AI can offer to retailers in the new normal retail landscape. Some of the techniques described have been applied at scale to adapt previously-deployed AI models, whereas in other instances, fresh solutions needed to be developed to help retailers cope with recent disruptions, such as unexpected panic buying, retraining predictive models, and leveraging online-offline synergies.
Keywords: Retail analytics, COVID-19, AI in management
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