AI & Cloud: Onix’s Blueprint for Retail Success

1.   Back to blog   Share AI/ML AI-powered retail: transforming marketing and enhancing store operations Traditional marketing analytics often fall short in addressing the complexities of today’s retail landscape. Retail marketing is less e?ective due to a variety of challenges including: Siloed channel optimization Static customer segmentation Delayed customer feedback cycles Channel cannibalization Powered by AI technology, reinforcement learning can optimize retail marketing in today’s digital age. Let’s explore how reinforcement learning (RL) and store assistants can optimize retail marketing strategies and improve the customer experience (CX). Reinforcement learning: AI-driven marketing optimization AI-powered Reinforcement Learning (RL) enables retailers to optimize their marketing by continuously learning and adapting from real- time customer interactions. RL enables retailers to: Optimize their marketing for multiple objectives simultaneously, such as online sales, store visits, and long-term customer value. Create a balance between new marketing strategies and proven approaches. Manage delayed reward signals, such as in-store visits occurring days after digital interactions. A major North American retailer implemented an RL system to optimize cross-channel marketing and achieved impressive results. After six months of operation, the system delivered a 10% improvement in conversion rates, a 7% increase in average order value, and a 12% improvement in marketing ROI. The retailer also saw an 8% increase in cross-channel “Click and Collect” orders and a 5% increase in total sales without channel cannibalization. The core RL architecture utilizes a Deep Q-Network (DQN) model that operates on a 120+ dimensional state space, which captures customer attributes, context, and journey stage – while selecting from 40 discrete marketing actions across channels. The model delivers a multi-term reward function with balanced competing objectives, including a negative term for channel cannibalization. Here are the datasets curated using Onix Birds: Customer interaction data including: Purchase history with product IDs, timestamps, and channel information Digital touchpoints (clicks, views, cart additions) Basic RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) metrics Product data including: Product catalog with categorization Price points and margin information Inventory availability by location Action data including: Marketing campaign history Promotional calendar Channel capacity constraints Here are some of the key insights from the RL implementation: Data quality is critical: Identity resolution accuracy and temporal precision directly correlate with model performance. Data discovery drives performance: Integrating data across domains produces the highest-value features. State representation matters more than model complexity: Expanding the feature set yields more improvement than architectural changes. Reward engineering requires iteration: Balancing short-term engagement and long-term value metrics is crucial. AI-powered store assistant: enhancing retail e?ciency In addition to marketing optimization, AI can also enhance store operations and customer experience. An AI-Powered Store Assistant provides retailers with actionable intelligence, automation, and operational e?ciency. Here are some of the key capabilities of an AI-powered store assistant: Associate & in-store interface: Provides real-time visibility into store performance. AI assistant: Provides conversational AI assistance for retailer sta? and customers. Customer analytics & sales dashboard: Delivers real-time Insights into retail sales, foot tra?c, and customer behavior. Inventory & sta? management: Helps optimize stock levels and workforce allocation. Agentic AI: Utilizes AI-enabled agents to automate routine tasks and enhance decision-making. The store agent dashboard displays comprehensive company information, including customer policies, claim statuses, and risk pro?les. Users can ask questions and receive insights about speci?c items, with Gemini 2.0 models used for generative capabilities. Agentic AI constantly monitors data for potential fraud, risk, and churn and can automatically take actions like mitigating risks or initiating targeted campaigns for customer retention. SETTINGS We Value Your Privacy NextRoll, Inc. ("NextRoll") and our 20 advertising partners use cookies and similar technologies on this site and use personal data (e.g., your IP address). If you consent, the cookies, device identifiers, or other information can be stored or accessed on your device for the purposes described below. You can click "Allow All" or "Decline All" or click Settings above to customise your For customers, an AI assistant can streamline processes such as ?ling new claims. Customers can interact directly with the AI assistant to create new claims by sharing information like GPS location and photographs. consent regarding the purposes and features for which your personal data will be processed and/or the partners with whom you will share personal data. Conclusion NextRoll and our advertising partners process personal data to: ● Store and/or access information on a device; ● Create a personalised content profile; ● Select personalised content; ● Personalised advertising, advertising measurement, audience research and services development; ● Services development. For some of the purposes By leveraging AI-powered solutions like Reinforcement Learning and Store Assistants, retailers can streamline operations, enhance customer engagement, and improve pro?tability. These technologies provide real-time intelligence and automation, leading to data- driven decisions, cost optimization, and a scalable, resilient foundation for the future. above, our advertising partners: ● Use precise geolocation data. Some of our partners rely on their legitimate business interests to process personal data. View our advertising partners if you wish to provide or deny consent for specific partners, review the purposes each partner believes they have a legitimate interest for, and object to such processing. Our team of AI professionals can help address your speci?c challenges. As an AI solution provider, Onix has worked to reimagine and modernize the retail sector. With our retail expertise, you can capture relevant customer signals across all touchpoints and use valuable insights to improve your CX. If you select Decline All, you will still be able to view content on this site and you will still receive advertising, but the advertising will not be tailored for you. You may change your setting whenever you see the on this site. DECLINE ALL ALLOW ALL Onix Canopy is a dynamic, interactive platform designed to demonstrate the tangible impact of Onix’s innovative industry and solution o?erings. Canopy demonstrates how Onix delivers business value to enterprises using intelligent agents, AI automation and uni?ed knowledge graph. We can provide a 1−1 overview of AI Powered Store Assistant at your convenience, contact us for more. Related blogs Exploring new AI-driven possibilities through warehouse modernization Powering the next wave of home improvement with retail technology Retail co?ee – modernizing PoS systems on the cloud – challenges, and best practi Learn more Learn more Learn more Subscribe to stay in the know Submit Your email Your trusted guide to everything cloud No matter where you are on your journey, trusted Onix experts can support you every step of the way. Learn more connect@onixnet.com 800.664.9638 216.529.3000 Solutions

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