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“AI has superpowers!” “We think a lot about the hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI), but I think there is a lot of over- hype,” began Tim Gordon, Partner at Best Practice AI (pictured above left). “However, the technology that exists now at this very moment is already going to transform business in the coming decades.” In real life terms, AI or machine learning is a new way to write software; it’s essentially a quality control tool used often on production lines. It’s very specific that does one thing really well but it does not yet have the ability to transform or overcome a human being. “Think of it less as a Terminator robot, and


more as a spreadsheet with ambitions to change the world,” Mr Gordon said. “So what can actually be done with AI?” he asked. “We’re moving to a world where text goes to anything – whether spoken or written – it can be used to create images, audio or video, for motions of design functionality, for music, marketing, software coding, website creation... the list goes on. “It’s like having 1,000 interns to share your workload; it acts as your co-pilot to prompt you on information you might need to answer certain questions or complete certain tasks. It also has superpowers and it helps even the best workers be even better at what they do.” AI enables content production with speed, scope and scale, and Mr Gordon believes that in the retail sector AI is already simplifying the entire SEO structure. For example, it can create


and send personalised emails to customers on a massive scale, and as the cost of using it is zero the ability to personalise everything is wide open. “And that’s really going to start changing the entire retail and commercial marketing experience.”


When it comes to jobs, all the experience so far shows that AI is having a big impact on productivity – increasing people’s ability to work faster and learn faster. Mr Gordon concluded: “There is a lot of talk about the risks around AI; people should make sure they do their homework. But don’t worry if your company is investing in AI, worry if your company is not, because those that are using it now will almost definitely have the competitive edge in the future marketplace.”


“The outlook is still a little uncertain” Always an insightful session at the Retra Conference, Nick Simon, Client Director at GfK (above right), presented the latest market data. “The world economy is progressing through tentative recovery, and the outlook is still a little uncertain,” he reported.


Focusing on the UK market, Mr Simon said that half of retail is online and it’s been that way since 2021 (post-pandemic). In 2019 only around 35 per cent of retail sales were online, so there’s been a massive change. The SDA sector has been the strongest performing sector in the past year, according to GfK data, with vacuum cleaners and air


fryers doing particularly well. “SDA is the jewel in the crown, with the overall value of that market going up and up,” Mr Simon revealed. The consumer electronics segment has been “disappointing” recently, he added, although headphones and turntables have been bucking the trend and selling well. The latter as a category is 16 per cent up compared to last year.


MDA sales are remaining “steady and healthy”, Mr Simon went on, with consumers’ average spend going up. “Part of this is consumers’ desire to have more energy efficient products in their homes,” he said. “It’s an obvious entry point for the MDA market and over half of all sales in the past year have been of highly-rated ‘A’ appliances.” Energy efficient products will gain further traction over the next few years as newly- launched products will become “the norm”, said Mr Simon. A trend to keep an eye on: multifunctionality – with living spaces getting smaller, people want more functions in one product. Mini ovens are up 116 per cent this year compared to 2019, plus slow cookers/cooking pots are also selling well.


Rounding up, Mr Simon reflected: “While the economy seems slightly stronger, many consumers are still preoccupied with inflation and the overall cost of living. Consumer confidence reflects this, although natural pessimism means that it has rarely gone above or even reached the zero breakeven line.”


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