Middle East’s major retailers are fully invested in artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to make operations more efficient, according to a new survey by global automation group Honeywell.
Over three-quarters (76%) of in-region retailers are already using AI, with plans to expand it in the near future (58%), stated the 'Global Retailer Technology Survey' which highlights how Middle East retailers are thinking about AI use, from merchandising to customer service and last-mile delivery.
The survey focused on large retailers throughout the US, Europe, Latin America, India and the Middle East and how they are using advanced technologies throughout their operations, including AI, automation, augmented reality, machine vision and sensors.
Middle Eastern retailers participating in the survey were located throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE and had a minimum annual revenue of $5 million.
Middle East retailers said procurement (48%), customer experience (46%) and demand planning (34%) were the areas that stand to benefit most from AI and digitization.
Survey respondents attributed more value to AI for procurement than other regions did (+20%), stated Honeywell.
By contrast, fewer retailers in the Middle East than in other regions said AI had the potential to accelerate their sales and marketing efforts (26% and 30% in the Middle East vs. 34% and 37% globally), it added.
"Across the Middle East, AI has tremendous potential to enhance the omnichannel shopping journey by creating hyper-personalized experiences for customers," said George Bou Mitri, Honeywell Industrial Automation’s president for the Middle East, Turkey, Africa, and Central Asia region.
"We are also seeing AI’s ability to streamline critical retail processes throughout the supply chain in the region, bringing many benefits to retail operations," he noted.
Other advanced technologies are also making an impact on the retail landscape in the Middle East. The region is leading the way on adoption of augmented reality (AR) - helping shoppers or employees visualize a product in a space - with 40% of surveyed retailers using the technology compared to 31% globally.
In addition, 36% of Middle Eastern retailers are using machine and camera vision (CV) technologies and 30% are using optical character recognition (OCR).
OCR can significantly speed up retail workflows when replenishing the shelf inventory or identifying mislabeled prices by quickly reading labels and other product information. CV can help mitigate the growing challenge with retail shrinkage.
While survey results show overall continued momentum for AI, retailers in the Middle East expressed some concerns about its adoption, it added.
The top anticipated challenges for future AI implementation in the region included complexity of AI models (64%), regulatory compliance (40%) and workforce adaptation (40%) - suggesting there is an opportunity for retailers to demonstrate to their associates the benefits AI can bring.
While customer acceptance was cited as a potential roadblock to AI adoption by 40% of global retailers, only 34% of respondents in the Middle East said it would be a challenge for future AI implementation within the retail sector.
Honeywell had commissioned Wakefield Research to conduct the survey in May. This Omnibus survey polled 450 executives at large retailers about their use of AI and other technologies via an email invitation and online survey.
The following markets are represented in survey data: the US, UK, Germany, Brazil, India, UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The threshold of “large” retailer varied by country, ranging from a minimum annual revenue of $100 million in the U.S. to minimum annual revenue of $5 million in the UAE and KSA.-TradeArabia News Service
