Market Challenge - Lack of Standardization and Interoperability

One of the major challenges currently faced in the global artificial intelligence in retail market is lack of standardization and interoperability. There are several AI platforms such as Microsoft Azure AI, Amazon SageMaker, IBM Watson, etc. and solutions available in the market by various vendors, however, they often use different algorithms, standards, integrations, data formats, and APIs, which makes it difficult for retailers to seamlessly adopt and integrate multiple AI solutions together. Retailers face significant challenges in exploring different AI vendors and solutions due to lack of common standards and integration points. This further limits the scale of adoption of AI-based applications and integration with other IT systems in the retail ecosystem. For the market to grow to its full potential, the development of universal standards for data integration and platform interoperability is highly needed. Vendors must work together to establish common protocols, data formats and interfaces that allow solutions to securely communicate and work in tandem with each other. Adoption of standardized APIs will enable wider application of AI by simplifying the integration process for retailers.

Opportunity - Integration with Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data

One major opportunity for the global artificial intelligence in retail market lies in deeper integration of AI with Internet of Things (IoT) devices and big data analytics tools. Retailers are increasingly adopting IoT sensors to gather real-time customer insight and operational intelligence from physical store locations. AI has the capability to analyze huge volumes of data from these IoT deployments and customer transactions to generate valuable patterns. By fusing AI with IoT data streams and big data, retailers can gain unprecedented visibility into consumer behaviour, predict demand trends, optimize inventory, recommend personalized offers, and enhance overall shopping experience. AI combined with IoT also enables new areas like predictive maintenance of store equipment, advanced computer vision powered store operations, and drone-based warehouse management. The mergers of these technologies will be a key driver of innovation and growth in the AI retail market in the coming years.