Chaubard F. AI for Retail. A Practical Guide...with AI and Automation 2023

Textbook in PDF format

The coming of the AI revolution in brick-and-mortar retail.
In AI for Retail: A Practical Guide to Modernize Your Retail Business with AI and Automation, Francois Chaubard, AI researcher and retail technology CEO, delivers a practical guide for integrating AI into your brick-and-mortar retail business. In the book, you’ll learn how to make your business more efficient by automating inventory management, supply chain, front-end, merchandising, pricing, loss prevention, e-commerce processes, and more.
The author takes you step by step from no AI Strategy at all to implementing a robust AI playbook that will permeate through your entire organization. In this book, you will learn:
How AI works, including key terminology and fundamental AI applications in retail
How AI can be applied to the major functions of retail with detailed P&L analysis of each application
How to implement an AI strategy across your entire business to double or even triple Free Cash Flow
I have split this book into four sections. The second section is a very quick overview of AI theory. This is mostly for you to be familiar with common terms in AI so you can speak intelligently with your team about AI or with an AI vendor that might have a great product or might be selling snake oil. By the end of this section, you will be able to ask the right questions to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The third section is about applications of AI in retail. Of the many tasks a retailer must perform, there is no shortage of approaches to try to solve them. We will go deep into the pros and cons of all of them so you can skip years and millions of wasted dollars in POC?ing technology that won't work for you, accelerating your organization by leaps and bounds toward the automation of your business. I will provide a huge list of AI use cases that may be applicable to your stores.
The last section is all about implementation. In this section, we will discuss how to create an AI strategy and road map for your business to execute against for years to come. We will discuss key roles that you need to fill, systems and norms to put in place, and ways to evaluate different opportunities and AI solutions.
AI for Retail is the comprehensive, hands-on blueprint for AI adoption that retail managers, executives, founders, entrepreneurs, board members, and other business leaders have been waiting for.
Introduction: Why You Need This Book as a Retail Leader
Introduction to the AI Revolution
How AI Has Revolutionized Many Other Industries over the Last 20 Years
The Three Myths of How AI Will Transform Retail
How AI Will Automate and Optimize Retail
Level‐Setting the AI Doomsday‐ism
AI Theory
What Is AI?
From CPUs to GPUs
Optimization
Measuring AI Performance
AI Learning Techniques
Simulators and AI
OODA Loops
Hierarchy of Data Maturity
A “General Theory for Retail AI”
Applications of AI in Retail
The Inefficiencies in Retail
AI for Merchandising
AI for Inventory, Ordering, and Supply Chain Management
AI for Replenishment and Labor Management
AI for Labor Budgets and Scheduling
AI for E‐Commerce and Customer Service
AI for Warehouse and Distribution Centers
AI for Checkout
AI for Pricing and Promotion
Other AI Use Cases
Implementation
Create Your “AI Strategy and Road Map”
Buying vs. Building AI
How to Run a Proof of Concept Bake-off Effectively
Transitioning to a Fact-based, Data-driven Culture