AI is on any CIO’s agenda, says GMG CIO

Retailers leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) will deliver an elevated customer experience at lower costs while building scalable businesses, said Vishal Kapil, Group Chief Information Officer, GMG during an exclusive interview with IMAGES RetailME.

Although it might be early days, a recent Gartner study indicates that 91% of retail IT leaders are prioritising AI as the top technology to implement by 2026.

Alongside ensuring operational efficiency and enhancing ability to personalise experiences and communications, AI has the potential to help businesses combat volatility related to supply chain through accurate demand forecasting. This, in turn, helps to reduce returns and wastage therein having a positive impact on a retail organisation’s sustainability centric goals. Small wonder that AI services in the retail industry is expected to touch the $31-billion-mark by 2028, according to a World Economic Forum report. 

Reiterating the importance of AI in retail, Kapil confirmed that for GMG too one of the tech-driven investments in 2025 will be AI. “While there will be legacy modernisation, and we will focus on cloud-centric composable commerce work, a lot of conversations are already underway around the rise of AI and its potential,” he shared.

In fact, one of PwC’s latest reports indicates a $320 billion impact of AI for the Middle East, with retail being among the biggest sector gains, Kapil quoted. “So, AI is on any CIO’s agenda at the moment. At GMG, we will spend a lot of our efforts in this direction to ensure we remain at the higher curve of better customer & employee NPS (net promoter score) and a bigger, better organisation that is a great place to work.”

A quick look at GMG’s tech transformation milestones

• Enhancement of fully integrated omnichannel platform capabilities across all its markets and formats to provide a more seamless customer experience.
• Development of a clear IT strategy for a composable and capability-centric platform for IT applications to support this omnichannel strategy.
• Ongoing upskilling of its workforce and adding more talent in data, middleware and core foundational technologies for which GMG recently built a technology capability centre in India.

If digital transformation was yesterday, what’s tomorrow’s tech agenda?

Digital transformation is a continuous work, and the models are evolving and becoming all-encompassing, Kapil observed. “The tech agenda for MENA-based retail organisations is mainly centred around how to improve the basket size and get repeat customers across all existing formats. Hence, we will witness the use of more and more ways to leverage the power of multiple formats, social marketplaces and internal data on which new language models can be created and existing ones be enhanced regularly. While we do all of this, it’s crucial to respect customer data and privacy aligned with MENA’s evolving data privacy framework.”

Another critical focus area is developing robust omnichannel capabilities, which GMG has been working on. “At GMG, we actively invest in technologies that enable consistent brand interactions, flexible fulfilment options like click-and-collect and same-day delivery and immersive in-store digital experiences. The goal is to create a unified commerce environment that blends the best of physical and digital retail,” Kapil stated.

Moreover, a Gartner study indicated that by 2027, immersive shopping technologies are expected to make up over 7% of sales interactions, a significant increase from less than 1% in 2022. This projection points towards the growing importance of immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) in enhancing the customer experience and driving profitable growth in retail.

“Data analytics will continue to be a key driver of strategic decision-making. We leverage advanced analytics techniques, including predictive and prescriptive modelling, to gain deeper insights into customer behaviour, optimise merchandising and pricing strategies and improve demand forecasting and inventory management,” Kapil added.

Building resilient and agile supply chains is also high on GMG’s agenda. Today the company’s operating model relies on a set of interconnected digital applications and tools working together to create a seamless flow of goods from port to warehouse to the store and/or customer. Through supply chain capabilities that exist via Trilogi, GMG teams can monitor every step of the journey to ensure consistent service delivery.

A pressing issue that keeps you up at night

In summation, asked about a pressing issue that keeps Kapil up at night, here’s what he said, “I get good sleep, but the area that keeps me on my toes is the sophistication of threats in cyber security topics targeting retail organisations. As we expand our footprint and enter new categories and markets, safeguarding customer, enterprise and other data and ensuring the resilience of our systems becomes critical.”

“That’s why, we have made significant investments in cybersecurity. This includes implementing robust security measures, fostering a culture of ‘security by design’ across the organisation and continuously strengthening our defences. We recognise that the cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving, so we must remain vigilant and proactive in staying ahead of emerging threats.”

Meanwhile, Kapil also pointed out the need to manage complexities that come with multi-country legal compliance requirements, local marketplace nuances and varied customer journeys. This expansion requires understanding market volume and customer expectations, necessitating an adaptable and scalable infrastructure.

For instance, GMG acquired aswaaq and Groupe Casino brands, seamlessly integrating them into its portfolio. “Additionally, our Asian operations are growing quickly, and by leveraging scalable infrastructure and standardisation, we’ve maintained operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and brand identity across a diverse network of stores.”

Usually, non-standardised ways of working and having multiple systems doing the same thing could act as barriers to such expansion. “At GMG, we have a clear IT strategy to have a platform that is composable and capability-centric to IT applications that drives common application constructs, SOPs, training content and a large internal pool of users,” Kapil concluded.

To get more insights up and close, register to meet Vishal Kapil at the Middle East Retail Forum 2024.