The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in retail is on the rise. According to studies by Juniper Research, investment in this sector will reach $7.3 trillion by 2022 in areas such as customer service, automated marketing, and demand forecasting. This projection could be exceeded given retail’s ability to adapt to pandemic-driven changes in consumer habits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the increased use of AI in retail is critical to driving business revenue. AI allows retailers to generate and evaluate forecasts considering variables in several scenarios, such as demand, supply, inventory, pricing, and logistics. In addition, thanks to this technology, large databases can be analyzed in a short time, boosting decision-making based on real-time information.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The development of technology has enabled the incorporation of AI-based replenishment systems. As we saw earlier, the causes of phantom inventory are varied, making its management a complex task. Given this, AI has focused on analyzing the symptoms of phantom inventory, such as sales anomalies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AI systems have significant advantages, as they perform a statistical analysis to evaluate the probability of an SKU being out of stock. These systems integrate a high number of variables and Machine Learning algorithms, which identify data patterns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on this analysis, it is possible to detect if the sale of a product is anomalous. We speak of anomalous sales when the actual sales of a specific SKU do not match what was planned by the demand projection system. Under AI analysis, it is unlikely that these products have zero sales if they are available on the shelf, so it is inferred that there are phantom inventory problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, a notification system can be added to the probabilistic analysis. Then, an automatic alarm will be triggered to tell store personnel which SKUs have phantom inventory problems and should be checked in the backroom for shelf replenishment.<\/p>\n

Frogmi’s global vision goes beyond problem reporting and alerts. Frogmi offers a complete SKU-level product management solution that considers manual replenishment, specific notifications, and SKU-level tasks generated by artificial intelligence.<\/b> Thanks to Frogmi\u2019s integrated solution, the information does not remain stagnant in a report or email but is taken directly to the stores to be managed. The ultimate goal is to have a complete vision that allows preventing, identifying, and addressing possible stock-outs as soon as possible to deliver the best availability and increase sales.<\/p>\n

At Frogmi, we know that the implementation of task management tools integrated with technology and AI solutions are welcomed by store personnel, as they deliver valuable information oriented to execution with concrete objectives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although it often goes unnoticed, phantom inventory comes at a high cost to retailers. Fortunately, the technology to identify and manage it is already available through AI and in-store operation platforms. All that remains is to join this trend, so phantom inventory problems become a thing of the past.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The use of technology in retail is not new. However, in recent years we have seen an increase in its benefits and possibilities within stores…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,66],"tags":[84,83,80,150,151],"class_list":["post-3024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-operations","category-technology","tag-automation","tag-execution","tag-retail-en","tag-supermarket","tag-supermarket-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n