Council Post: Can AI Deliver A Main Street Market Renaissance?

Founder and CEO of Order Genie and SimplifyReality, makers of branded e-commerce experiences powered by creative AI.

The Covid-19 pandemic is completely transforming business. While segments like hospitality and aviation struggle through a sharp decline in demand, others are dealing with the opposite problem. Grocery retailers are being forced to rethink operations to meet increased demand — especially for online purchasing. For neighborhood grocers, bottlenecks are par for the course.

Before the pandemic, Bain & Company found that only 3% of grocery spending in the U.S. was online. According to a March 2020 survey by Coresight Research, more than half of consumers have now purchased groceries online — more than double the number from two years ago. Business is good, but the problem is this: The typical small- or medium-sized business isn’t well-versed in e-commerce. They’re winging it the best they can, while their mega-retailer competitors are well-prepared to win.

Many view companies such as Amazon, Walmart and Instacart as beneficiaries to the accelerated shift to online grocery shopping. But how can our local-grocer Davids compete with the massive investments of corporate Goliaths, years in the making?

Pandemic Problem-Solving

Independent groceries were already being crowded out of the market corporate chains. Now it’s harder than ever without small saving graces, like local foot traffic and face-to-face friendliness. Local retailers are hard-pressed to compensate for their relative lack of reach and capital. To stand their ground, they have to innovate. Here’s why I think AI could be the answer.

I believe AI has the potential to level the playing field for small shops. When we shop locally, our dollars drive a positive feedback loop at the community level. Because a higher proportion of local grocers’ revenue stays in the community, it strengthens the local economy, which in turn supports the local grocer. So, how can AI help power this local retailer renaissance?

AI Fast-Forwards Food Retail

AI’s ability to deliver customer service, online ordering, social media engagement and inventory control affordably and at scale could transform this crisis into an opportunity for Main Street grocers. For example, AI-driven inventory control can empower mom-and-pops with the advantages corporate chains enjoy, like real-time reporting and demand prediction.

Innovative Integrations

Imagine AI at the epicenter of a new holistic model. Smaller groceries and specialty food stores can leverage the advantages they have over corporate chains, like the agility to integrate interrelated departments that have previously been siloed. For example, inventory, online ordering, customer service and social media marketing could be reimagined and managed as one cohesive ecosystem.

The potential synergies are endless: Did a repeat customer omit a staple item that they usually order? Your e-commerce bot can kindly ask if they need a refill at the checkout. Did they order pharmacy items like cough suppressant and tissues? Offer curbside pickup to support under-the-weather shoppers and their caregivers and safeguard customers and employees.

Caring Communications

Communication counts more than ever, so it pays to make social media your superpower. Edelman’s report “Brand Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic” states that a whopping 84% of consumers want brands to use social media to foster a sense of community and offer social support. Seventy-one percent expect to be engaged in real time — a tall order for small shops.

Consistent engagement is labor intensive, and often cost prohibitive, but AI offers a possible solution. To help your brand deliver personal attention everywhere at once, AI can be programmed to recognize a comment’s sentiment and provide sensitive responses in your brand voice. And unlike traditional social media managers, bots are always on.

Scalable Solutions

Most independent grocers handle pickup orders and customer service the old-fashioned way: one interaction at a time. AI empowers businesses without massive teams to help an infinite number of customers simultaneously. This eliminates crowded aisles and waiting in long lines and ensures that issues and inquiries are handled quickly, without unnecessary human intervention.

AI is no replacement for people, but it can help us optimize productivity. For example, machine-learning bots will get increasingly better at “reading the room,” even picking up on social cues to know when it’s time to bring a manager into the conversation. And while people have their own interpretations of store policies, bots stick to the script, so they’re always on-message.

In Yestermorrow: Obvious Answers to Impossible Futures, sci-fi visionary Ray Bradbury saw the shopping mall, that symbol of soulless consumerism, as a stand-in for a disappearing piece of American life: the town square. Now, we envision another anachronistic pairing, with AI helping local grocers stand up to big-box competition amid the pandemic’s seismic shifts.


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