134 FEATURE planogram compliance, equipment exceptions, promotion suggestions, enabling thousands of smarter decisions. Microsoft’s ecosystem and its AI-powered platforms are empowering retailers to make better, data-driven decisions. “The real value of retail data lies in connecting to dynamic, learning agentic systems,” says Minbiole. “Retailers can now deploy intelligent agents that interpret data in real time and act on it, compressing the time between insight and execution. Loyalty programmes were originally designed for customers to ‘earn and burn’, but they’re now becoming AI-powered engagement engines. By integrating purchase and engagement data, AI can detect who is buying what and why, and thereby anticipate what will keep customers loyal.” Coffee house chain Starbucks uses its ‘Deep Brew’ platform to personalise offers and recommend products to customers. Every tap, order and redemption updates the model, allowing Starbucks to tailor suggestions for customers based on the weather, time of day and even what’s in stock locally. “This closedloop intelligence transforms loyalty from a marketing function into an adaptive, datadriven operating system, enabling retailers to move from reactive decision-making to realtime orchestration of customer experience and value,” says Minbiole. “There are also emerging partners creating specialised agents that handle distinct parts of the value chain,” she adds. “Nimble’s market intelligence agent flags competitor promotions in real time; Ydistri models stock redistribution across stores; and Omnistream updates planograms automatically to highlight relevant products. Together, these agents compress the cycle from insight to execution to mere hours, creating a living ecosystem of intelligence where each agent becomes an expert that can act on what it knows best and learns through collaboration.” Every tap on the Starbucks’ ‘Deep Brew’ platform updates the model allowing the coffee chain to personalise offers and recommendations to its customers
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