Chronic underinvestment in brick-and-mortar tech tools could be a thing of the past as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and computer vision help to bring digital innovation into the physical store environment and close the gap with e-commerce’s highly digital capabilities.
Israeli startup Mystore-E’s new AI-based assistant aims to give retail store managers insightful intelligence at their fingertips. Dubbed Tore-E, the app-based AI platform aggregates and analyzes myriad streams of data so decision-makers in the store can better serve customers. Mystore said the AI platform pulls from planograms, local and regional data, social media customer interactions and the retailer’s e-commerce bestsellers to identify products mostly likely to catch on with shoppers browsing in the physical store.
“Tore-E gives store managers immediate access to insights that many consumers already have at their fingertips, including products trending on Instagram and current online best-sellers,” Mystore-E founder and CEO Asaf Shapira said in a statement. “This wisdom gives sales personnel up-to-the-minute merchandising insights on the most in-demand products—not only boosting store performance but delivering a more engaging and relevant customer experience.”
Mystore-E received $2.2 million in seed funding from diamond giant Signet Jewelers, owner of bridal jeweler James Allen which recently implemented Tore-E “to create more relevant experiences,” the company said. Discount player Value City Furniture out of Columbus, Ohio, also is live on the platform.
“Retailers have been in need to make their brick-and-mortar stores function more like websites; connecting touchpoints across channels by gathering, interpreting and translating omnichannel analytics into real-world solutions on the sales floor,” noted Oded Edelman, chief digital innovation advisor at Signet Jewelers and president of JamesAllen.com. “We quickly recognized how Mystore-E can help close this gap and we are excited to partner with them.”
Artificial intelligence proved to be a dominant trend at the just-wrapped CES show in Las Vegas and is steadily infiltrating a retail industry in desperate need of an innovation catch-up.