There is a growing movement to utilize AI (artificial intelligence) in the convenience store industry.
They help out by giving advice on store management and forecasting sales.
FamilyMart, a major convenience store chain, will introduce a new business support system in which AI provides advice on store operations such as ordering products and creating sales floors.
When the store manager speaks to a humanoid AI that appears on the screen of a tablet device, it instantly displays data such as the number of customers and product sales.
In addition, the AI learns the store manager's characteristics from everyday interactions.
For example, store managers who are eager to expand their business are informed of their regional sales rankings to encourage competition.
In addition, for store managers who tend to forget to order new products, we present recommended products and give advice.
The company plans to introduce it to about 5,000 stores nationwide by the end of next fiscal year, and Hiroyuki Nakamura, general manager of the store business planning department, said, "By using AI to cover areas that store managers don't notice, we can expect an increase in sales." was
In addition, Lawson has introduced AI to reduce unsold items such as lunch boxes.
It is a system that predicts sales and discounts, and after last year's demonstration experiment, the number of target products was increased by more than four times.
From next fiscal year, we plan to introduce it nationwide, and there is a growing movement to use AI among the convenience store industry.