“Creative Destruction” in the Retail Industry? New Business Models? by James Kelly, Esq. “The fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the capitalist engine in motion comes from the new consumers’ goods, the new methods of production or transportation, the new markets, the new forms of industrial organization that capitalist enterprise creates.” - Joseph Schumpeter “A new truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” - Max Planck Austro-American economist Joseph Schumpeter popularized the phrase “creative destruction” as a means of describing how continuous technological innovation destroys old structures, techniques and firms and allows their replacements to arise. This is why the Fortune 500 list from 1960 looks so different from the same list 45 years later. The first wave of digital technologies revolutionized the manufacturing industry. The second wave of digitalization revolutionized the retail industry sending dozens of iconic brick and mortar businesses to the dustbin. Can the existing retail structure and its management practices adapt to the new realities of new technologies or will enterprising retailers form new businesses built from the ground-up to accommodate new technologies and the new ways of conducting business and providing services that they enable? How much power do retail industry incumbents have to shape the future or will they simply be swept aside, stagger for a while, and then collapse rapidly? I'm teaching an academic program entitled "Law, Technology and Innovation" at the Tulsa College of Law and these same issues arise in the legal practice as in the retail industry of providing goods and services. Another fascinating development in payment systems applicable to the retail industry involve Blockchaining technologies which are poised to disrupt a vast array of previously settled business arrangements. Among other things, the self-executing contract enabled by blockchaining technologies allow for the implementation of robust micro-payment systems, which itself enables new business models. Companies can now establish royalty payment structures for technologies where payments occur automatically and where payments may depend upon use. So, for example, the royalty payment for a particular component in a mobile phone might depend upon the frequency of its utilization rather than just its presence in the device. Of course, the legal agreements for such arrangements will require adaptation from traditional terms and conditions. Among other things, blockchaining technologies allow retailers to develop new business models for how they interact with their own retailers. These new business models are in the infancy of their formation but will likely take hold within the next few years.

I have a unique view on AI for retail, as I currently run a tech company that is specialized on retail pricing and promotions and our solution heavily leveraged AI, but I was also previously the Global VP of Revenue Management at AB INBEV and a leader of McKinsey’s Consumer Pricing practice. So have seen this from multiple angles. I’m very interested in Coaching networks, and a reduction in forms-based UI for AI-powered solutions. This concept of AI resulting in software-as-a-coach and empowering merchants and marketers to make better decisions is one I pay close attention to. In my travels I have a regular dialogue with leading CPGs and Retailers about these trends, eg just this week I addressed 100+ people at a major manufacturer about these topics in an internal keynote.

An AI and Retail expert. AI will change the paradigm in Retail and also including supply chain. Deep learning algorithms with Architecture models like Tensor flow will change the customer experience. Also AI will provide business intelligence based on the predictive modeling and analytics which is advanced. the slice and dice model with conversational AI will revolutionize the retail with personal marketing. supply chain will also be comprehensive with AI and blockchain platforms like Auxilium reducing the fraud and improving customer perceptions about the products and services. Have worked with many clients and also have participated in similar advisory board. So i feel i am suitable for this assignments

I am CMO at Planorama. Back in 2009, Planorama was a pioneer in AI for retail with its first-ever image recognition solution delivering real-time shelf insights to CPGs. Today our solution incorporates deep learning algorithms to instantly analyze and recognize millions of product items with a best-in-class 98% accuracy. What makes my application unique? Because we were the first mover in our space, we've been through all the stages (to date) of the hype cycle: excitement, peak of inflated expectations, disillusionment and now we are entering the enlightenment phase with a more reliable technology and more robust business cases. There are interesting times ahead with more and more CPGs getting mature about how they can leverage AI and Image recognition for retail, and at the same time, interesting technology advances with experiments around on-device recognition and contextual adaptation.

AI research has been in the fore front for quite some time in areas like Space exploration, Virtual Reality, Driverless Car and other Consumer facing applications like chatbots, intelligent home appliances etc. However there is a huge potential of realizing massive values by applying AI in Enterprises. Human and Machine together can do wonders in terms of making businesses intelligent. By profession I work in the field of Enterprise AI as a Data Engineer and I see that Enterprise AI is going to be the game changer for modern businesses. Starting from intelligent manufacturing processes to supply chain operations, AI & ML can be applied at various business areas, changing business models into interconnected, intelligent business.