AI outputs risk recycling retail ideas

Richard Tanadi says leaders should keep humans in charge of pricing and product strategy.

AI is forcing retailers to act on data faster, but overreliance on the technology could leave companies recycling old ideas.

Google’s refresh of 2 billion product listings hourly shows how quickly retail competition is shifting as shopping becomes more AI-assisted. For retailers, the pressure is no longer just having data, but acting on it quickly enough to improve customer value, product offers and marketing.

Richard Tanadi, Head of Solution Architect at Data Labs Analytics said AI is changing retail competition by shortening the time between data collection and action.

“Previously, we all only had the data, but we didn't have the insights,” he said. “Nowadays, we can access the insights in a matter of seconds.” That speed is pushing retailers to innovate faster and build better go-to-market and personalisation strategies.

The risk, Richard said, is that AI could start feeding on its own outputs. As more companies use AI-generated results, future systems may learn from those same results, making retail ideas more repetitive. Campaigns could start to look alike, product concepts could be reused and brands may struggle to offer something customers have not seen before.

“So the risk is stagnancy,” Richard said. He warned that business leaders should use AI to support innovation rather than hand over decisions. Humans should remain in charge of product strategy, pricing, customer targeting and brand positioning.

“As AI reshapes retail, we should focus on using AI as an assistant to innovate, not letting AI take any decisions,” Richard said. Retailers can use AI to improve market planning and personalised marketing, but they should not give the technology full control over customer strategy.

Retailers that hand decisions to AI may move faster while producing fewer original ideas.