The retail sector is under increasing pressure to transform: rising customer expectations along the customer journey, margin and cost pressures, volatile demand, and high complexity between headquarters and branches, as well as in interaction with partners and suppliers.

For board members and management, the question arises as to how innovation and AI can be used more quickly and in a scalable way, and how direct impact on operations and P&L can be achieved.

The starting point for the discussion is the so-called "IBM Client Zero Story." IBM, which has been on the market since 1911, has undergone a fundamental transformation in recent years. Automation and AI play a central role in setting a "flywheel" in motion, which, through increased efficiency, frees up resources that can be used for enhanced innovation and mergers and acquisitions.

In this discussion, we will examine how AI is being used in key business areas:

• in process design, to create transparency, rethink processes and make decision options visible early on,
• in operational implementation, for example in matters such as inventory counts, branch tasks or service workflows,
• in management and decision-making, for example in reordering, assortment or personnel deployment decisions,
• as well as in measuring impact, for example based on efficiency per branch, inventory accuracy or service quality.

In a moderated panel discussion, selected use cases and customer experiences will be addressed to jointly discuss which patterns, questions and success factors can be transferred to one's own retail context – and how AI can help to reduce complexity, shorten decision cycles and generate sustainable movement in large retail organizations.