Retail's Vision Revolution

Welcome to this week's Retail Reality Check, brought to you by IHL Group. I'm absolutely thrilled you're here today. We're zeroing in on the latest, most impactful tech installs happening right now across the industry. Today's topic: Retail's Vision Revolution: Are You Next or Left Behind? This explainer is packed with real-world deployments that are just completely reshaping how we think about scale, efficiency, and honestly, survival in the retail space. But before we get straight to the content, I have a quick invitation for you. Join us for our next webinar, The CFO's Guide to Visual Intelligence, May 19th at 11 AM ET. Why leading retailers are treating loss prevention technology as an EBITDA lever, not a security expense. This webinar, we will start with a retail economic update and then jump right into the latest trends in visual intelligence. Okay, let's dive into this because this is arguably the most critical question facing retail executives today. Vision AI and computer vision, they're no longer just these cool futuristic concepts we chat about at trade shows. They are moving incredibly fast from pilot programs right into massive full-scale production. If you're sitting there thinking you still have a few years to figure this all out, well, you might really wanna rethink that timeline. This quote from Greg Buzek absolutely hits the nail on the head regarding the reality of the market right now. He notes, "Vision AI has moved from pilot to production. Retailers still watching from the sidelines are not being cautious; they are falling behind." And you know what's really striking here? It's the simultaneousness of it all. We're seeing these massive tech deployments happening across foodservice, grocery, and pharmacy, all at the exact same moment. That's not a coincidence, folks; it's a fundamental, structural shift in how retail operates. Section 1: AI in production scaling up. Let's take a look at 3 specific, real-world examples of this technology scaling right now, just to show you the sheer momentum we're talking about. First step: food service. Culver's is officially deploying Barry AI's camera vision platform. By doing this, they're gaining real-time operational visibility to track service execution, vehicle flow, and throughput. And what's really brilliant here is that they're doing the whole thing within a privacy-first framework. It empowers their restaurant teams to make much faster decisions, which improves drive-through speed and accuracy, all without compromising the privacy of guests or employees. It's a real win-win. But here's the absolute kicker— just look at this number: over 1,000! This isn't some tiny 5-store pilot. Culver's is rolling this out as a standardized deployment across more than 1,000 locations nationwide. The sheer scale of this really underscores how fast the quick-service restaurant industry is moving from AI experimentation directly into full-scale deployment. Full-blown AI standardization. Alright, let's shift gears over to grocery. Ahold Delhaas' Albert brand, which runs about 350 stores over in the Czech Republic, is deploying BrainCorp AI-powered shelf scanning robots. These little guys are literally roaming the aisles during live, day-to-day store operations. They're explicitly designed to close the systemic execution gap by finding empty shelves, checking price tags, and identifying exactly what needs to be restocked. And what's truly mind-blowing here is the accuracy. Against a baseline target of 90%, these robots are consistently hitting in the high 90s. They're drastically cutting down on manual human errors, they're catching outdated paper tags, and they're flagging out-of-stocks immediately. This gives store teams the precise data they need to fix issues way before the customer ever even notices. Moving over to pharmacy and the supply chain. CVS Health has launched a highly automated warehouse in New Jersey using Autostore and Tompkins Robotics. So, when you walk inside this place, you don't see massive swarms of workers manually picking goods. Instead, it's like a giant puzzle—a highly orchestrated robotic system picking and packing orders with just a fraction of the traditional warehouse staff. And the sheer volume here is honestly staggering. We're talking 2 million items processed weekly for delivery to stores across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Plus, they plan to double that to 4 million by the end of the year. Think about it—when 63% of retailers point to lost sales from out-of-stocks as their biggest cost impact, automated warehousing at this scale isn't just nice to have; it's a total margin protection imperative. So why exactly is this massive rush to production happening right now? Well, the numbers just don't lie. IHL Research across over 200 brands found that companies utilizing computer vision averaged profit growth that was 27% higher than non-users back in 2023. And look at the expectation for 2024. That gap blows wide open to a 51% expectation for higher profit growth. I really want to hammer home the urgency of this trend for you. Profit leaders are 43 times more likely to already be deploying computer vision technologies today. Literally 43 times. The window for that early mover advantage is closing fast, and the financial data proves exactly why. Okay, moving right along to Section 2, the lightning round. We've got a massive amount of ground to cover across the wider retail industry today, and we're gonna do it fast. Let's hit the news ticker. Kicking off with supply chain and delivery, Amazon is opening up its massive infrastructure, turning its supply chain services into a third-party logistics platform. Meanwhile, DoorDash is dramatically expanding grocery access by adding SNAP and EBT payments across 2,700 Kroger locations. And down in Dallas, Goody Goody Liquor is testing out a slick, robotic, QR code-driven fulfillment system. Over in loyalty and pricing, Academy Sports is scaling its AI pricing tools across over 300 stores to optimize those local markdowns. Bed Bath Beyond is unifying its rewards with BILT across its entire home portfolio. And Dick's Sporting Goods is getting super aggressive, relaunching their credit card with a massive 10% back in rewards? In media and engagement, Dollar General is unifying its on-site and off-site ad inventory with Kable for a full-funnel approach. Disney and Hulu are launching these crazy immersive gesture-controlled digital storefronts in major cities. Plus, Kohl's just rolled out a conversational AI gift finder built on Google Cloud. Finally, operations and security. British supermarket Asda is piloting vending machines for high-theft items to curb shoplifting. Boot Barn is deploying Aptos One mobile POS across 500+ stores for serious omnichannel agility. And Little Caesars is utilizing AI to completely automate conversational phone orders. Phew! And breathe! Let's slow the pace back down for our final section: Your Next Steps. Seeing all these structural changes brings us to the core reality check of our explainer today. Guys, you just cannot afford to watch from the sidelines anymore. To dive deeper into the insights we covered today, make absolutely sure to check out the full narrative, including many more news stories and over 40 case studies, at www.ihlservices.com. The data, the strategies, the real-world proofs— it's all sitting right there waiting for you. I'll leave you with this final provocative thought today. You've seen the scale. You've seen the 43 times profit advantage. As the execution gap widens between those deploying AI and those who aren't, What is your strategy to survive the Ansite version revolution? Thank you so much for joining me for this reality check, and I will see you next time.