13% Those Surveyed Working on AI

The Promotion Optimization Institute Finds 82 Percent of Consumer Products Manufacturers are Concerned About Amazon and Other Online Retail Leaders

• Eighty-two percent of those surveyed are concerned about their ability to profitably do business with Amazon and this far outstrips their concerns related to doing business with Walmart. This is an increase of eight percent over 2017.
• The lack of linkage between digital and traditional promotion is still substantial but improving over 2017. Fifty-one percent of those surveyed in 2018 reported they were lagging behind compared to 58 percent in 2017. POI now has the data to show where consumer goods companies are on their journey to ‘fully integrated'.
• Thirteen percent of those surveyed reported they are already working on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in TPx and retail execution and 25 percent expect to be working on AI within two to three years. A full 17 percent of respondents don't see AI happening at all.

2018 "Spotlight Award" Winners

Today we would like to formally announce the list of vendors that we're recognizing with a "Spotlight Award" in 2018. Each of these vendors has stood out among their peers during our research over the previous year. We'll be closely monitoring and reporting on their performance and growth in the coming year. Congratulations!!

Company	URL
Reflektion	http://reflektion.com
BoomTrain	https://boomtrain.com
Cloud-iq	http://www.cloud-iq.com
Neowize	http://www.neowize.com
LiftIgniter	https://www.liftigniter.com
WACUL	https://wacul-ai.com/en/
Sentient	https://www.sentient.ai
Apptus	http://www.apptus.com
Cognitive Scale	https://www.cognitivescale.com
Choice.ai	https://choice.ai
Albert.ai	https://albert.ai
Scaled Inference	https://www.scaledinference.com/index.html
Staqu	http://www.staqu.com
Visenze	https://www.visenze.com
Twiggle	http://www.twiggle.com
Bloomreach	https://www.bloomreach.com/en
Infinite Analytics	http://infiniteanalytics.com
Layer6.ai	https://layer6.ai
Msg.ai	http://msg.ai/#home
WEVO	https://www.wevoconversion.com
Emarsys	https://www.emarsys.com/en/
Wylei	http://wylei.com
Granify	https://www.granify.com
Reactful	https://www.reactful.com
Couture.ai	http://www.couture.ai
Klevu	https://www.klevu.com

Will AI Be The Future Of Retail? - Veronika Sonsev

Will AI Be The Future Of Retail?

"Friend envisions a bigger opportunity for AI in retail as an enhancement to customer service associates in-store. “Imagine you’re walking into a Home Depot,” Friend says, “what if you could simply use your voice to ask the Home Depot app where the product you want is located and have it show you exactly where it is on a store map? You could avoid sales associates altogether.” Despite AI’s clear limitations today, as the technology improves and its applications feel progressively more human, its role in retail will only become more robust."

Nation’s largest mall gives holiday shoppers AI-based assistance

Nation’s largest mall gives holiday shoppers AI-based assistance

"The Mall of America has launched a first-of-kind chatbot for shopping malls. Done in collaboration with Satisfi Labs, the location-based AI chatbot program is designed to provide faster customer service to busy holiday shoppers. The chatbot, available on Mall of America’s website, mobile app, and Facebook page, can answer questions in real-time about gifting, food recommendations, and attractions and holiday events happening in the mall, based on a user’s specific location and in real-time."