With the launch of Chat GPT, AI suddenly feels real and a top priority again.

It is, of course, impressive that Chat GPT can write a poem or pass an exam. But if you’re a Store or Field Leader with a complex store or district to run, that isn’t particularly useful. 

So we sat down with 40 Store and Field Leaders to ask them what the most valuable questions are that AI could answer for them. They came up with 10 use cases which – if AI could successfully deliver them – would transform their daily work.

Store Leaders.

1. What are my top actions today to drive store performance?

I.e., With different issues facing each store each week, how can AI decipher where I should focus my efforts?

2. How did other stores fix similar issues?

I.e., With Retail Managers often solving the same issues across the country at different times, how can AI surface and share best practice insights in an automated and timely way?

3. How much are my actions improving my store KPIs?

I.e., How can AI scientifically analyze the $ impact of changes that my team and I make, so that we know what to keep doing…and what to stop?

Field Leaders.

4. Which stores should I visit today?

I.e., With increasing spans of control and finite time, how can AI help Field Leaders identify the stores that most urgently need their help?

5. What are the most important issues to discuss at that store?

I.e., Given every store’s unique issues, how can AI ensure Field Leaders are equipped with the relevant information they need to make each store visit easy and effective?

6. How has this store improved because of my last actions?

I.e., What actions did we agree or implement last week? Have they been completed? And what has been the $ impact of those changes? How much value am I creating as a manager? And how can I generate more?

7. How can I coach remotely, when I can’t visit?

I.e., With Field Leaders now digitally connected, how can AI put streamlined data at their fingertips in real-time so that they can coach and congratulate from the road?

Store Operations & Central Teams.

8. What are the top issues my stores have – and what’s the $ impact?

I.e., While BI dashboards give broad brush direction, how can AI be used to aggregate crowdsourced insights and impact from across the network? E.g., what are customers telling store teams about your products?

9. What can my Store & Field Leaders do to drive more value?

I.e., While BI takes a top-down approach to performance, how can AI flip this around and automatically ladder-up frontline opportunities to central teams?

10. Who, objectively, are my best Store & Field Leaders?

I.e., With most actions now logged in online systems, how can AI calculate impact at the individual level so that performance can be accurately measured and rewarded? (Rather than just rewarding those managers who run the most advantaged stores.)

At Quorso, we’re privileged to be working on these, and other AI use cases, for some of America’s smartest and largest retailers. Our experience so far is that technology can be up to 6x as effective at prioritizing and guiding managers’ daily work as the more traditional “management by walking around” approach. But this is still a new area and further improvements are very likely. 

Got questions or ideas about the future of AI in Retail? We’d love to hear from you!

contact@Quorso.com

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About Quorso:

Quorso is an intelligent management system that embeds AI into retail store operations. First, AI-driven analytics identifies and prioritizes issues at the Store and District level. Then, smart workflows guide action based on proven past successes. This creates a virtuous data cycle whereby every new action improves the system’s ability to both find and fix performance issues. 

Quorso is being used in 28,000+ stores at some of America’s top retailers. It was voted a ‘Technology Game-Changer’ at the World Retail Awards and ‘Best Quick Impact Technology’ at the 2023 NRF VIP Awards.