AI: AI In Retail – Maya, how is my store doing?

Capillary offers a more comprehensive ‘customer data platform’ that collects data from every point at which a store can capture customer data and provides analytical information to retail businesses
Illustration: Sameer Pawar

TAmazon’s rise to power is a big driver for others to invest in data analytics and AI in retail. A stroll through the main streets of Bengaluru shows that people are visiting their favorite stores despite the pandemic.

At Capillary Technologies, which makes software to help large retail stores better interact with customers, the pandemic has been a temporary setback for a new product based on facial recognition as companies cut back on investment in stores.

The technology, however, was ready and could be used to help sales staff deliver useful and personalized information to individual buyers, based on the interests they had expressed during their previous visits.

Other Capillary products that track store traffic and demographics, for integration into an AI engine, are in use in thousands of stores in India and China, and for one Capillary customer, in 25 stores. country, said CEO Aneesh Reddy.

And “instead of using cutting edge technology, we just used a Raspberry Pi and made the edge smarter with some AI algorithms,” he adds, referring to an affordable little computer popular among enthusiasts. coding and students.

Capillary also offers a more comprehensive “customer data platform” that collects data from every point at which a store can capture customer data and provides analytical information to retail businesses. This helps them manage loyalty programs and marketing campaigns. With this platform, retailers can also offer customer-specific offers and relationship-based pricing.

Capillary has built a marketing-centric AI stack called aiRA, which deploys AI to make marketers’ lives easier, says Reddy. Brand marketers can get predictions of what customers are most likely to buy, any given product on a particular weekend.

Second, if a store is considering five different product deals, Capillary’s AI can tell them which to send to which customer. And soon, it’ll also tell stores which channel to focus on – Instagram or WhatsApp, for example – through an AI-based product called Cross-Engage.

At Manthan Software, founder Atul Jalan developed Maya, an AI-based voice interface that connects users to the power of cloud computing and deep learning. Maya uses natural language recognition and works on Amazon’s Echo speakers, Google Home, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Apple’s Siri. The company says it can better inform everyone in the company. They just have to ask.

And, with Manthan’s analytics platform, Maya understands intent, context factors, and provides personalized insights for each role. The more Maya is used, the better the AI ​​is to anticipate questions and can even make suggestions. Maya can also authenticate specific users.