Retail AI & IoT Connected Shelf
An interactive retail showcase combining Customer Data Platforms (CDP) and live inventory with physical smart shelves and computer vision to deliver hyper-personalised shopping and automated operations.
Built for the SAP UK Experience Centre to showcase how physical retail spaces become hyper-personalised and operationally intelligent when customer profiles, live store inventory, and physical IoT-connected hardware are unified.
The experience connects a shopper’s digital profile—including purchase history, dietary restrictions, preferences, and loyalty status pulled from a Customer Data Platform (CDP)—directly with the physical store. When the shopper asks for a recommendation via the retail app, a Generative AI assistant evaluates their profile against real-time, shelf-level inventory. This ensures every recommendation is uniquely tailored to the individual and guaranteed to be on the shelf.
The system bridges digital intelligence and physical space to guide the shopper and enhance their experience:
- Interactive Guidance: The moment the recommendation is made, the physical electronic shelf label underneath the item blinks to alert the shopper of its exact location, removing any friction in finding the product.
- Contextual Marketing: At the same time, digital video rails on the shelves shift from general advertisements to rich, personalised content showcasing the recommended product’s key benefits and values.
- Instant Social Proof: Shoppers can submit feedback, which instantly projects onto the digital shelf rails, creating a dynamic, community-driven shopping environment in the physical aisle.
Beyond the customer experience, the showcase demonstrates how intelligent automation solves complex operational challenges:
- Planogram Compliance: Shelf-monitoring cameras track product layout in real time, alerting staff immediately if items are misplaced to ensure shelves remain pristine and organised.
- Dynamic Markdowns & Waste Reduction: Quality-monitoring cameras check the freshness of produce. If quality drops below a threshold, the system automatically triggers a price markdown. The updated price is instantly pushed to the electronic shelf labels, accelerating sales of aging stock and directly reducing food waste.