Microsoft AI Takes Retail Shopping To The Next Level via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Microsoft has unveiled new AI and data tools to bring retailers into the modern digital age.

The new offerings expand Microsoft’s existing retail industry cloud platform. They use Copilot, Microsoft’s latest AI helper that uses generative models like the advanced GPT-4 system to enhance productivity.

Personalization Through Microsoft AI

Microsoft has added Copilot templates to its Cloud for Retail platform, integrating OpenAI’s generative AI capabilities into Azure.

These new tools are intended to help retailers provide more customized and personal shopping experiences for their customers, similar to having a dedicated personal shopper.

The goal is to meet the expectations of today’s consumers, who increasingly want personalized interactions when shopping online or in stores.

By providing tailored product recommendations and offers, retailers can encourage shoppers to add more items to their carts.

The Copilot templates leverage generative AI to dynamically generate unique content for each customer, helping retailers build stronger relationships and boost sales through more personalized shopping journeys.

Support for Retail Associates

Microsoft is previewing new tools to help retail workers be more productive.

The tools are designed to help sales associates and other store staff quickly access information while helping customers. One example is an AI assistant that lets workers ask questions in natural conversational language on their mobile devices and get relevant data.

Microsoft says it’s developing these AI retail tools because there’s demand from retail employees for more digital technologies that can streamline their daily workflows.

Data Insights With Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft is tackling the problem of scattered and inconsistent retail data by providing new tools within its Microsoft Fabric platform.

This includes a standard data structure for the retail industry, a way to connect e-commerce systems, and pre-made templates for analytics like figuring out what items customers often buy together.

The idea is to help retailers and brands unite their data sources and gain insights from AI more easily.

Enhancements To Marketing with Generative AI

Microsoft is integrating its Copilot AI into Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, its marketing analytics platform, to assist with campaign creation. The AI can help generate project ideas and recommend content for campaigns.

Microsoft launched a new Creative Studio feature in its Retail Media advertising platform that utilizes AI. This tool helps retail advertisers quickly create and customize banner ads to improve campaign results and target ads to specific audiences.

Summary

With Microsoft’s new technologies, stores can improve customer shopping experiences, make retail jobs easier for workers, and harness data to help executives make important choices.

A study done for Microsoft shows that retail companies are seeing major benefits from using AI, highlighting how vital these technologies are in retail.

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