With Cegid Pulse, Cegid integrates generative AI into Cegid Retail Solutions

On the occasion of Cegid Connections Retail, taking place in Rome on the 19^th – 20^th June 2024, Cegid unveils Cegid Pulse, a set of intelligent agents embedded in its solutions. Cegid Pulse offers a new way of working, enabling users to interact in natural language with Cegid’s management solutions. Thanks to the power of artificial intelligence, Cegid Pulse assists users on a daily basis, connecting and simplifying their processes, alerting them to problems and advising them in real time.

Generative AI has the potential to significantly impact the productivity and performance of brands and retailers. At a time when retailers are faced with a significant rise in costs and a drop in consumption, generative AI is emerging as a solution for optimising numerous processes such as procurement, store management and personalising the customer experience.

Aware of the paradigm shift this technological revolution implies for the retail industry, Cegid is accelerating its investment in artificial intelligence within its solutions. Cegid Pulse is embedded in three of Cegid Retail’s flagship solutions: Cegid Retail Live Store, Cegid Retail Store Excellence and Cegid Retail Intelligence. This set of intelligent agents enables retailers to make real-time recommendations to their in-store customers, streamline internal collaboration and gain a better understanding of their business by analysing data more simply and intelligently. These concrete cases are the first results of a long series of investments in generative AI by Cegid.

Raising customer engagement by reinventing the in-store experience

Based on the Cegid Retail unified commerce platform, Cegid Retail Live Store is a new generation of omnichannel and collaborative applications for stores. Designed to offer greater simplicity, agility and performance, and running on all devices and operating systems – fixed or mobile POS, on Windows, Android and IOS – it enables retailers to streamline in-store customer journeys and offer the most effective omnichannel shopping experience, for both customers and store associates.

Use case one: instant translation to streamline communication and boost sales

Cegid Pulse, integrated into Cegid Retail Live Store, assists the sales assistant as an instant translator, which is particularly useful for retailers located in tourist areas and/or targeting customers of different nationalities: the customer’s and sales assistant’s words are translated in real time, with each instantly seeing what the other is saying in their own language.

Use case two: synthesising customer knowledge for a hyper-personalised relationship

Cegid Pulse also draws on the company’s knowledge of the customer journey. In this context, the customer is already identified. Cegid Pulse immediately analyses and synthesizes available customer data (purchase history, size and colour preferences, repeat or non-recurring customers, etc.) using a tagging system. This gives the store associate a better understanding of the customer’s profile and preferences at a glance, enabling them to personalise the advice given.

Use case three: listening for relevant recommendations

The integration of Cegid Pulse within Cegid Retail Live Store improves in-store customer recommendation, by enabling the sales assistant, whatever his or her level of experience, to make relevant recommendations in real time based on voice exchanges with the customer. Two relevant use cases are then possible: on the one hand, with the customer’s agreement, the AI listens to the live conversation and formulates recommendations in real time, and on the other hand, the sales assistant can interact with the customer by reformulating the needs to Cegid Pulse, which will provide the appropriate recommendations.

Better optimise and manage store operations with Cegid Retail Store Excellence

Cegid Retail Store Excellence is the ideal solution for managing store operations. This task management platform improves communication between head office and stores, and the management and control of field operations – for greater productivity at the point of sale.

Use Case four: Networking to develop employee commitment

The Cegid Retail Store Excellence solution, which includes Cegid Pulse, makes it easy to write attractive and engaging content for store teams. Generative AI helps to animate the store network and engage every employee in the field.

Use Case five: Instant translation in all languages used by employees to facilitate communication

Enriching the solution with generative AI also makes it possible to create a communication, instantly translated into all the languages used throughout the network. Cegid Pulse detects the language and translates it automatically.

Increase profitability by better understanding your business with Cegid Retail Intelligence

Cegid Retail Intelligence provides store managers – and head office staff alike – with intuitive, mobile tools to analyse their business and make the right decisions independently.

Use case six: Simply analyse activity to make the best decisions and optimise store performance

Embedded in Cegid Retail Intelligence, Cegid Pulse assists store managers. They ask it questions in natural language about, for example, sales, product return rates, discounts and promotions. The response is instantaneous, in dashboard, graphic or text format – depending on the user’s request – and enables the most appropriate action levers to be put in place.

Use Case seven: Take data analysis a step further to improve business management and optimise profitability

Cegid Pulse will also enable advanced data analysis, such as sales forecasts, data clustering and anomaly and trend analysis, to be carried out in natural language.

“These first use cases, dedicated to the retail market, are concrete proof of Cegid’s commitment and willingness to make long-term investments in the field of generative artificial intelligence, in order to help our customers elevate the retail experience. We’re only at the very beginning of a long and beautiful story with Cegid Pulse, with more use cases to come. Our aim is to continue our efforts to provide our customers with concrete answers, so that they can easily and serenely embrace the latest, most innovative and useful technological developments in their businesses. In an increasingly globalised market, it is essential to support brands and retailers to help them promote the innovative products and services that will keep them competitive and set them apart,” says Nathalie Echinard, Director of the Retail Business Unit, Cegid.