In a small neighborhood store, every experienced cashier knows exactly what a person who just entered the store will buy, no matter how much that person browses the shelves. The manager of such a store knows exactly how much and what type of milk will be sold on Wednesdays, and how much and what types of sausages on Thursdays. In large retail chains, through which several hundred thousand customers pass every day, procurement departments prefer to rely on data obtained through predictive artificial intelligence (AI), a branch of artificial intelligence that uses statistical analysis and machine learning to analyze current and historical data to identify patterns and predict future events.
Automatic Ordering of Goods
Consumers are, in fact, predictable. Most customers shop according to some repeating pattern when it comes to item selection, time, and place of purchase. This is a fantastic basis on which large retail chains can use predictive artificial intelligence algorithms to predict what will be sold more and what less in the future. And when they know this, retailers can maximize sales opportunities, optimize their supply chains, and minimize inventory costs.
A pioneer in the application of predictive analytics in Croatian retail is Konzum , which, in addition to recognizing the advantages of AI in simplifying business processes very early on, also has the advantage of being part of Fortenova Group, which includes the company mStart that develops its own demand forecasting systems in its DataLab . One of the latest such solutions used by Konzum is the automatic ordering of fruits and vegetables. Machine learning models analyze historical data, weather conditions, and seasonal trends to reduce waste and increase product availability, making decision-making easier for employees, while the company optimizes procurement and reduces excess inventory of perishable and fast-perishable goods, thus achieving savings. Customers have also benefited as they now have AI scales that automatically recognize the fruits and vegetables being weighed, and their use is extremely simple and intuitive. The innovation, they say at Konzum, has been excellently received.
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