Agentic AI Takes Center Stage and AI Workforce Transformation

Welcome to this week's Retail Reality Check! Hey, before we jump into the news, I wanted to give you a heads up about something you're really gonna want to check out. IHL is hosting a webinar called "The Retail AI Pulse" on March 26th. We're gonna be going deep into actual AI deployments, talking about real customer wins, and even demoing some super practical AI tools. Best part? No influencer hype. Just real stuff that actually works. Alright, so here's what we've got on tap for today. We're looking at how AI is finally moving past the hype and becoming a real helping hand. First, we'll see how it's becoming your personal AI shopping agent. Then we'll look at the AI-powered workplace. We've also got a super-fast retail tech lightning round, and then we'll wrap it all up with the big takeaway for the week. Okay, let's dive right in. I think the biggest, most interesting shift we're seeing this week is how AI is being used to directly help you and me, the customer, actually shop. It's pretty fascinating stuff. You know, for years we've heard about this idea of a true agentic AI. Basically, a smart assistant that can handle a bunch of steps for you with just one command. Well, guess what? It's not a what-if anymore—it's here. And I mean, it's really here. DoorDash and Uber are already piloting this on the new Pixel and Samsung phones. You can just tell Google's Gemini AI to reorder your favorite meal or book you a ride and Boom! It does all the clicking and confirming for you in the background. It's pretty slick. Now, it's not just about simple, everyday stuff. This is where it gets really interesting. Best Buy is leaning into AI to help sell big-ticket items—you know, the expensive stuff—even when people are kinda tightening their belts. So, their thinking is, even if shoppers are a little hesitant, the right piece of cool, new tech can get them excited enough to buy. So, they're plugging their entire product catalog into ChatGPT and working with Google so you can use the Gemini app to find the perfect home theater system. They're essentially turning AI into an inspiration engine. And if you think this is all just theory, get this: Jet's Pizza just blew past 10 million AI-enabled orders. 10 million! So how on earth are they doing it? Well, it's kinda genius in its simplicity. They're using AI to send you a text at the perfect moment. So, picture this: it's Friday afternoon, and you get a text that says, "Hey, wanna get that same pizza you ordered last Friday?" You just text back "yes," and it's on the way. They've turned a simple text conversation into this amazing, no-friction way to sell more pizza. Okay, so that's what's happening on the customer side. But let's shift gears and look behind the counter, because AI is also becoming this incredibly powerful tool for employees, and the results are just as wild. At Burger King, for instance, they're rolling out a new AI voice assistant, Her name is Patty, and she talks to employees right through their headsets while they work. Think of it like an AI coach that's always listening. It can remind someone how to make a Whopper, suggest an upsell to a customer, and even track friendliness scores based on how employees greet people. And this isn't some tiny pilot—it's going into all 7,000 U.S. locations. Over at Lowe's, they've totally transformed the paint desk. I mean, look at the difference here. The old way was all handwritten notes, long lines, and tons of mistakes. The new way? It's all smart kiosks and mobile alerts. This frees up the associates to actually help customers find the right color, which is a huge, huge win for everyone. And if you think that's impressive, let's head to the warehouse. At Dermalogica, they've managed to increase how often they do inventory scans by a staggering 600%! How? Well, they're using autonomous, AI-powered drones. Yup, you heard that right. Drones are flying around the warehouse, scanning inventory from the air. It's saving them 120 hours of manual labor every month and just completely changing the game for how they manage their stock. Now, AI has clearly been the dominant theme, but it was far from the only story this week. So let's do a quick lightning round and look at some of the other big tech moves that are really shaking things up. First up, over in the Philippines, 7-Eleven is doing a massive point-of-sale upgrade with NCR Voyix. We're talking 4,500 stores. Meanwhile, JD Sports is going all-in on RFID technology, rolling out Checkpoint's inventory tracking system to almost 1,000 stores across Europe. In China, IKEA is using self-driving delivery vehicles—get this—it's cut customer wait times from 6 hours all the way down to just 2. Schlotzsky's is rolling out a brand-new, smaller store design that's all about digital ordering, and they think it's gonna cut their operating costs by a full 25%. And finally, if you've ever ordered a fridge or a pile of lumber from Home Depot, you can now track that delivery in real time, all thanks to new handhelds for their drivers. So, okay, we've seen AI assistants, drones, self-driving cars— what's the big takeaway here? What does all of this really mean? The bottom line is this: we've passed the tipping point. Technology, and especially AI, isn't some theoretical "what if" topic for conferences anymore. It's become a real, practical tool that's being put to work right now to solve actual problems, making things better for customers and employees. The shift from just talking about it to actually doing it is undeniable. And believe me, what we've covered today is really just scratching the surface. If you want to dive a whole lot deeper, you can see the full narrative, tons more news stories, and over 40 case studies over at illservices.com. Thanks so much for watching. I'm terrified about the Abercrombie presentation because I don't have the right data to close the deal. No problem. Just ask Greg AI. This business plan is a nightmare. I can't find reliable forecasts for the total available market. That's easy. Just ask Greg AI. This sounds nice, but where is the total available forecast? I don't have it. You don't know? Try just ask Greg AI. Stop guessing. JustAskGregg.ai democratizes elite analyst services. We use real-time proprietary data that doesn't hallucinate or just make stuff up. It's intelligence you can trust. Get the data. Close the deal. Visit JustAskGregg.ai today. Don't forget to redeem your free month of JustAskGregg.ai. This gives you access to IHL's free and paid research. 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