AI-Powered Retail Tracking: How AI Is Powering Profitability For Business' & Security in Africa
AI is creating competitive advantages for retailers & governments' by optimizing Marketing, Sales & Security over legacy technology and creating advantages. Retail has seen a significant shift over the years with now every consumer touchpoint being tracked by retailers for business optimization as well as for optimal security for their business assets. For governments wanting to secure their borders as well as secure their citizens and internal assets, leveraging AI provides a seamless way to futureproof investments.
For many business and retailers in Africa, many are still stuck in the past employing past outdated technology at their storefronts and in leveraging their owned data. Many retailers & governments are railing in the past with outdated retail technology that in some cases only provides insights on counts. Traditional retail tracking methods, such as people counters and basic surveillance, provide limited insights. They count foot traffic but fail to capture behavioral data, emotional responses, or detailed customer demographics and automates these insights without manual processing of data.
Apart from POS devices and transactions that give a glimpse into transaction history, understanding consumer behavior and engagement instore is now highly critical for brands as they seek to create competitive advantages and leverages in operational effeciency beyond money, content, or brand strength. For example down south in South Africa; data analytics and AI tools created at Shoprite X, the group’s technology and innovation hub, used AI systems to optimize stock levels and pricing to allow it to be “agile in its response to changing patterns in demand” plus efficient marketing . This is now easy using existing AI retail tracking technology & at entrances, heat map sensors, demographic sensors et al mapping the whole consumer journey beyond just the point of sale.
Apart from POS devices and transactions that give a glimpse into transaction history, understanding consumer behavior and engagement instore is now highly critical for brands as they seek to create competitive advantages and leverages in operational effeciency beyond money, content, or brand strength. For example down south in South Africa; data analytics and AI tools created at Shoprite X, the group’s technology and innovation hub, used AI systems to optimize stock levels and pricing to allow it to be “agile in its response to changing patterns in demand” plus efficient marketing . This is now easy using existing AI retail tracking technology & at entrances, heat map sensors, demographic sensors et al mapping the whole consumer journey beyond just the point of sale.
Beyond marketing and sales, AI-powered tracking is revolutionizing security for governments and organizations. While traditional intergrated security management systems such as biometrics (fingerprint scanners, keycards) are useful, they have limitations. With Ai technology using facial recognition, identifying potential threats in real time can be spoofed to avert danger. Traditional security systems like Biometrics work only at entry points,F
AI-Powered real-time threat detection with AI surveillance systems detect suspicious behavior before incidents occur, providing multi-location security integration enhancing public safety in high-risk areas for governments' as well as retailers.
Retailers can now create lookalike audiences based on real-world shoppers, ensuring ads target high-intent buyers and ensure that ad spend is highly convertible to money at your POS ( point of sale ) . Instead of wasting marketing spend, businesses can focus on customers most likely to convert. If a customer browses a product in-store but doesn’t purchase, AI can trigger personalized online ads reminding them to buy. This seamless integration between physical and digital stores increases sales efficiency and is the new normal.
AI-powered tracking enables highly personalized marketing and strategic decision-making that traditional retail tracking counters cannot. For example retail conversion at retail is a metric that many retailers are not tracking that can improve revenue instantly. AI powered tracking can enable one to track conversion patterns by understanding how many people who have been past buyers at your store pass by your store daily different from those that have not been previous buyers vs also those who pass by plus enter your store and don't buy. All of these consumers are different consumers with different value buckets. Combine this with demographic insight data retailers can improve conversion rates by targeting those consumers differently and effeciently spending the right marketing dollars on these different type of consumers. Success at retail is built on systems and it is intentional on investments and innovations that leadership brings to the business to optimize for profitability.
The shift from legacy systems to AI-powered retail tracking is now being used to power neural marketing with real-time customer analytics for AI identifies customer preferences and delivers real-time, personalized offers to maximize conversions with mobile notifications can adjust based on customer demographics (age, gender, dwell time, purchase intent to even mood of shoppers ) at stores at big brands all the way from Domino's who have automated almost every customer touch point to Balenciaga. In Africa many retailers are catching up from brands such as Shoprite in South Africa to Kenya's leading furniture store' Furniture Palace, Vivo Active wear who are implementing some of these solutions to effectively convert consumers to profit.
The shift from legacy systems to AI-powered retail tracking is now being used to power neural marketing with real-time customer analytics for AI identifies customer preferences and delivers real-time, personalized offers to maximize conversions with mobile notifications can adjust based on customer demographics (age, gender, dwell time, purchase intent to even mood of shoppers ) at stores at big brands all the way from Domino's who have automated almost every customer touch point to Balenciaga. In Africa many retailers are catching up from brands such as Shoprite in South Africa to Kenya's leading furniture store' Furniture Palace, Vivo Active wear who are implementing some of these solutions to effectively convert consumers to profit.
Shoprite Holdings, parent of Shoprite and Checkers, leans on it's retail data collected via the scheme to gain insights into customer behavior and inform the group’s strategy for increasing sales. “It also helps measure the efficiency of our direct communications, creating a more personalized shopping experience and delivering valuable operational and environmental efficiencies. "said ShopRite in one of it's press engagements.
Apart from amalgamating data for use of AI and data insights, ShopRite has innovated to provide business units within ShopRite and external suppliers an “insights-as-a-service” view of the 31 million + customers via a custom-built platform called Rex. This has enabled Shoprite to monetize it's data plus create another revenue stream separate from it's core offering. Many brands across the continent from airlines, beauty retail franchises, stationery and book retailers, government bodies, restaurant chains, big bus companies, hospitals et al are sleeping on goldmine in terms of data and using AI systems that can greatly improve their profitability metrics. Beyond using data that they hold for themselves, with AI tools they can provide “insights-as-a-service” to business and partners that are not their key competitors, monetizing their data and reducing costs of AI/data investments.
AI plus big data in not only used to personalize the shopping experience on the customer side. Shoprite and Checkers stores now use demand forecasting to optimize stock, tailor marketing messages for promotions and reduce operational costs. Ai is being used in-store to optimize shelf stocking, layout planning and promotions, with algorithms analyzing shopping patterns and store traffic to recommend the best strategies for product placement and promotion, the group is heavily now leveraging on AI and it is paying dividends as showcased in their half year results. Over the past six months, their south african supermarket segment (Checkers, Shoprite & Usave) delivered R10.2 billion ( 562,200,336 usd )in additional sales (+10.4% YoY), driven by higher volumes, increased customer visits, and bigger baskets, despite a reported 1.9% price inflation. Interesting insights from their financial report which Kenyan and other African retailers need to auger is in diversifying their core offerings to adding alternative sources of revenue that catapult the brand to higher profitability.
Combining integrated data and technology through digital transformation creates = self-sustaining growth engines that power profits. This concept of a data-driven growth flywheel is not new and was birthed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Jim Collins in 2020 and showcases the power of leveraging data and AI to drive profits for the organization and cost savings for the end consumer.
What does the future hold ? Many retailers should not adapt Ai solutions and technology and leave competitive advantage to the hands of nature and headwinds of the market. Why ? Because technology and innovation in Africa is only left to the brave and bold leadership that decides to lead to the uncharted waters that decide.
In a struggling economy, AI is not a luxury, it is a necessity for survival and growth for those that embrace change and innovation. For African CEOs, top management and policymakers embracing AI-powered retail tracking & systems is the new normal to stay competitive over the market, protect assets, and drive high-impact profitability, but it is also not a must for those that don't want change. Like Francis Imbuga said in the play "Aminata" , "change is like rest".
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