{"id":5548,"date":"2019-01-08T16:19:55","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T16:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/?p=5548"},"modified":"2019-01-08T16:20:20","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T16:20:20","slug":"whats-ai-why-should-i-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/01\/08\/whats-ai-why-should-i-care\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s that AI thing and why should I care?"},"content":{"rendered":"
AI isn’t new. In fact, whether you realise it or not, you’re already using it. Perhaps through your phone, reminding you of upcoming birthdays or it might be built into your car, keeping you out of traffic and accidents.\u00a0And now it could be helping your customers pick products they\u2019ll love.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that AI thing you\u2019ve heard so much about. And you\u2019ve probably got more experience with it than you think.<\/p>\n
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Virtual assistants, email spam filters, and recommendations of what to buy next are all everyday examples of AI at work. Whilst they all serve very different functions in your life, these examples go a long way towards understanding exactly what that AI thing is \u2013 and what it\u2019s capable of.<\/p>\n
But it’s not just something to make your personal life easier. It has the potential to transform your retail business outcomes too, helping you create great customer experiences, enhance your teams’ productivity, and drive innovation. AI can learn from data to predict what happens next – imagine how this can help you solve some of your core business challenges.<\/p>\n
Whilst AI has the potential to help you achieve some really great things, it\u2019s important not to force AI into your business for the sake of it. You should first start by identifying the challenges that you’re looking to overcome and then look at how AI can help you address them.<\/p>\n
If you’re looking for some inspiration, here are some of the ways AI can bring value to your retail business:<\/p>\n
That AI thing could be adding visual search to your online store. If a customer sees a celebrity wearing something they love, they can snap a photo, upload it to your site, and visual search will show them all the products you stock that match the look.<\/p>\n
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