Latest news with #CharismaGlassman
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Self-Driving AI Is Transforming Retail Customer Experience
Charisma Glassman is Senior Partner & Global Head of Retail Advisory at Genpact, helping global brands transform the end-to-end value chain. In today's retail environment, consumers expect more than convenience. They want journeys that anticipate their needs and respond instantly at every touchpoint. To meet these expectations, many leading retailers and consumer brands are adopting the agentic mesh, a system of autonomous AI agents embedded at the front end of the customer journey. These agents work together to enrich each interaction, forming what my team likes to call the CARE cycle: connect, assist, reserve, enrich. This cycle converts hesitation into purchase and builds loyalty, all without human intervention. From Personalization To Self-Driving AI Personalization once meant remembering a customer's name or recommending a product based on past purchases. The agentic mesh meets this challenge by combining AI agents specializing in visual search, conversational commerce, pricing, fulfillment and loyalty. These agents continuously process data from websites, apps, stores, social media and external signals such as local weather. They identify key moments, take autonomous action and learn from results to improve over time. The mesh includes an insight layer that maintains a real-time customer profile, or customer graph. An orchestration engine triggers the right agents to act in sync based on observed behavior. Conversational and transactional autonomy allows these agents to engage customers proactively using product data, inventory levels, pricing logic and interaction history. A learning system—powered by A/B testing (which compares two versions of a feature to see which performs better) and multivariate testing (which evaluates multiple variables at once to find the most effective combination)—works alongside reinforcement learning to ensure the system continuously improves. The CARE Cycle In Action At the core of the agentic mesh is the CARE cycle. This framework shows how autonomous agents work together to improve outcomes across the customer journey. • Connect: The insight agent monitors signals like product page dwell time, cart abandonment and loyalty status. When friction is detected, it connects with the customer and activates the next step. • Assist: Specialized agents guide the shopper. A visual search agent can suggest similar products. A conversational agent can start a real-time dialogue to answer questions, clarify options or apply incentives. • Reserve: When intent is clear, a fulfillment agent reserves the item, applies any discounts and confirms delivery or pickup. This step helps secure the transaction and builds confidence. • Enrich: Loyalty agents add value by offering rewards such as bonus points, tier upgrades or exclusive content. I find these enrichments increase satisfaction and encourage repeat business. Each cycle feeds data back into the system, enabling smarter and more effective interactions in the future. Use Cases Across Retail And Consumer Brands When a high-value client lingers on a seasonal piece, the concierge agent might discreetly offer support: "I noticed you exploring the Alpine Trench Coat in charcoal. Would you like me to reserve it in your size with complimentary two-day delivery?" This helps replicate the attentiveness of an in-store associate at scale. A high-end home decor or couture brand might allow customers to upload inspiration photos rooms, runways or editorials. A visual agent could then use these images to generate a curated lookbook using in-stock pieces. If an item is low in availability, the fulfillment agent could suggest alternatives and notify inventory teams. A loyalty agent might offer a personalized styling consult, creating an experience that feels intimate, not transactional. For luxury beauty or wellness products, a brand could enable voice-first interactions that anticipate restocks. For example, a conversational agent could say something like: "It looks like you're running low on your Signature Candle. Shall I reorder and include an exclusive seasonal scent sample?" Returns are sensitive moments. An agentic mesh could identify return intent and trigger a return agent to arrange pickup, auto-generate shipping labels and recommend tailored alternatives. A loyalty agent might follow up with a thank-you gesture or credit, preserving your brand's reputation for elegance and care. A luxury beauty or fashion brand could track engagement across purchases, app usage and social interactions. When a client nears a loyalty tier, they might be offered a quiz, an exclusive event RSVP or a boutique check-in. Completion can unlock tier upgrades or limited-edition gifts, deepening connection and prestige. How To Build An Agentic Mesh 1. Identify high-impact moments. Start by mapping customer pain points such as cart drop-off, loyalty churn or slow returns. These are great opportunities for agentic intervention. 2. Build the mesh stack. Create a real-time insights layer that powers a unified customer view. Add an orchestration engine to dispatch the right AI agents. Include modular agents for key actions like search, chat, fulfillment and rewards. Use a test-and-learn loop to refine strategies. 3. Start with pilots. Choose one or two focused pilots, such as the shopping concierge or returns optimizer. Measure success by tracking increases in conversion, retention or satisfaction. Expand gradually based on performance. 4. Create strong governance. Implement clear rules around data privacy and fairness. Make sure each autonomous action can be audited. Provide override options where needed. 5. Scale with AI operations. As successful use cases grow, move from experiments to an AI operations hub. This team will be key in monitoring system health, scaling up working patterns and looking for new applications of the CARE cycle. The Future Belongs To The Agentic Mesh As artificial intelligence moves beyond basic personalization, the agentic mesh offers a new standard for customer engagement. Through my experience helping brands transform their end-to-end value chain with AI, I find the CARE cycle to be an increasingly necessary strategy to set the pace for future commerce and enable self-driving experiences. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Forbes
09-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Monetizing Retail Media Networks: A Strategic Framework For Retailers
Charisma Glassman is Senior Partner & Global Head of Retail Advisory at Genpact, helping global brands transform the end-to-end value chain. getty I believe retailers are sitting on a goldmine of advertising potential. In today's landscape of shrinking retail margins, I've found that retail media networks (RMNs) offer a lucrative new revenue stream. What makes them so attractive is their profitability. While traditional retail operates on razor-thin margins, advertising sold through RMNs can enjoy operating margins well above 50%. It's clear why a growing number of retailers, from big-box chains to specialty e-commerce players, are racing to build their own media arms. Yet tapping into this opportunity requires more than putting ads on a store shelf or website. The leaders in this space are thriving because they follow a strategic framework to monetize every available touchpoint. To help retailers of any size replicate such success, here's a framework with six key pillars of retail media monetization. 1. In-Store Digital Advertising Retailers are increasingly using in-store digital signage to monetize physical aisles. Digital screens on endcaps, checkout lanes and even smart shopping carts are becoming high-value ad real estate. Leveraging loyalty program insights, retailers can serve targeted, context-aware ads promoting, for instance, a new cookie brand on a screen in the snacks aisle to shoppers who've bought similar treats. In another application, a European grocery chain could roll out smart endcap screens synced with loyalty app data. When a known coffee lover walks by the coffee aisle, the screen displays a premium roast on promotion. In this example, the screens would not only drive incremental product sales but also offer a brand lift for advertisers. Integrating in-store media with online campaigns creates an omnichannel strategy that reinforces the message and drives conversions. 2. E-Commerce Sponsored Content Retail websites and apps have become high-margin digital real estate. Sponsored product listings, featured brand carousels, homepage takeovers and targeted banner ads convert customer attention into revenue. These placements are modern-day endcaps, and brands are willing to pay premium rates for them. These sorts of innovations might enable an apparel retailer to add a 'featured brands' carousel on its app's home screen, allowing labels to promote new collections or a national grocery chain to introduce sponsored search keywords. This second example would then enable brands to bid for top placement in product search results. With the right targeting and performance measurement, these platforms can attract repeat ad spend and significantly enhance revenue per visitor. 3. Programmatic And Off-Site Advertising Once a retailer has monetized its own properties, the next frontier is programmatic advertising and off-site reach. Retailers have valuable first-party data on shopping habits, which can be leveraged to target consumers across the broader web. By integrating with demand-side platforms (DSPs), retailers can allow brands to use their data to place ads on external websites, apps, or even connected TV. Some retailers partner with streaming platforms to target viewers using in-store purchase behavior. Others integrate with social media platforms to match shopper profiles with ad delivery and track downstream purchases. This closed-loop measurement is attractive to brands seeking more accountable ad spending. 4. First-Party Data Monetization Data is the foundation of every retail media network. Purchase histories, browsing behavior and loyalty data are all marketing gold in a privacy-first world. Beyond powering ad targeting, retailers can directly monetize their data through insights, analytics and segmentation services. Retailers can provide anonymized basket-level data to brand partners, helping them understand buying patterns and design better campaigns. Clean-room technologies allow this to be done securely and in compliance with privacy laws. Other options include selling audience segments for external targeting or offering trend insights to brand marketers. Retailers that shift from hoarding to productizing their data stand to unlock new revenue while strengthening vendor relationships. 5. Brand Partnerships And Joint Campaigns Retailers can also act as marketing agencies for their brand partners. By co-developing cross-channel campaigns, they provide value beyond ad space. A beverage brand might collaborate on a back-to-school campaign, targeting likely buyers on social, offering in-app coupons, promoting in-store and delivering post-purchase rewards. Joint campaigns work because the retailer controls multiple customer touchpoints and can provide performance analytics. Some retailers co-create content, such as how-to videos, recipe hubs and interactive tools, funded by brands. Others facilitate cross-industry partnerships, like bundling a fitness product with an entertainment offer. These strategic partnerships drive full-funnel impact and deepen vendor investment in the retail media platform. 6. Retail Media As A Service (RaaS) Retailers with mature RMNs are starting to monetize their platforms externally. Retail media as a service allows them to license their technology, audience data and sales expertise to other retailers or partners. Some are offering turnkey advertising platforms to smaller retailers, creating new revenue streams from tech licensing and ad revenue sharing. Others form alliances to offer pooled media inventory and cross-retailer targeting. These models turn a cost center into a profit center, scaling the impact of a retailer's media capabilities beyond its own walls. A New Profit Engine For Retail What began as an experiment for digital-first players is now a top strategic priority for retailers of all kinds. By following this six-pillar framework, from in-store screens to RaaS, retailers can transform customer interactions into sustainable, high-margin revenue streams. In a world where brands seek accountability and precision, and retailers seek profitability, retail media sits at the intersection. Those who act, invest in the right talent and tech and deliver measurable value to brand partners will define the future of commerce. The retail media gold rush is on and with the right blueprint, even the smallest retailer can strike gold. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
