To open the fourth edition of the Tech For Retail show, Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun takes stock of the use of artificial intelligence in retail. A fervent believer in the power of data, he takes a critical look at companies that are still too reluctant to come together to maximize knowledge of their customers.
On the main stage, Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Groupe, gives the start of Tech For Retail. For its fourth edition, the show has 4,000 exhibitors and expects 12,000 visitors, 50% more than last year. To open these two days of conferences, the CEO warns of the beginnings of an unprecedented period: “We are entering the age of commerce. Every marketing experience today is a commercial experience.” According to him, creative professions and media may not survive without investing in data and artificial intelligence.
If AI (generative or not) occupied everyone’s minds during the last edition of Tech For Retail, Arthur Sadoun notes a return to normal, which allows us to take the subject head on, “sans bullshit”. He details: “AI can change personalization at scale and create a real revolution.” According to him, the winners will be the retailers who best understand their customers thanks to data and will succeed in communicating with them in a hyper-personalized way using generative artificial intelligence. “Some professionals are worried about the possibility that tech will hijack our core business, explains the CEO, However, it is completely the opposite. Our business is based on understanding the customer, we can only improve on this point thanks to data.”
Media retail: a source of income that is too little exploited
This revolution that AI represents also creates a number of future prospects for media retail. According to the current CEO of Publicis Groupe, French retailers are doing it wrong and are not seizing this opportunity. “In the United States, it’s a tsunami,” he comments, “one in three dollars invested in advertising is dedicated to retail media.” The reason? The proximity between advertising and the act of purchasing appeals to retailers and brands, but also the capacity that retail media offers to measure the return on investment, with much more precision than after the broadcast of an advertisement on TV for example.
In France, while Amazon represents 20% of the territory’s e-commerce sales, 80% of the money invested in retail media goes to the American giant’s advertising agency. For Arthur Sadoun, this is the direct consequence of retailers refusing to come together to form a common front: “Everyone wants to do retail media in their own area, so obviously it’s easier to go to Amazon.” He deplores a huge source of income that merchants leave to Amazon. “Asking how unity can create strength takes nothing away from the spirit of competitiveness”concluded the businessman.
Source: www.ecommercemag.fr
