Retail Tech Companies Launch AI Capabilities: Agents, Surveillance Search, Audio Ad Creation, More

Four convenience-store technology providers launched new artificial intelligence (AI) tools for retailers—Liquid Barcodes, Lula Commerce, March Networks and Qsic. There's also a new partnership between Vroom and Petrosoft that offers a digital commerce solution to retailers.

Sixty-three percent of U.S. retailers say AI is critical to maintaining a competitive edge, and they expect an average 51% return on investment from AI deployments within the first three years, according to a report titled Everseen Insights: The Future of AI in Retail. Everseen is an AI solution provider for retailers based in Cork, Ireland.

Consumers also see AI benefits, the report said, with more than half (55%) of consumers being comfortable with AI and advanced retail technology and 65% saying AI makes shopping more convenient.

Click through to read about AI advancements in the convenience channel.

Liquid Barcodes, a loyalty, subscription and digital marketing company for convenience retailers based in Fairfax, Virginia, launched its Foodservice Frequency Booster, a program designed to help convenience retailers increase foodservice purchase frequency and drive customer engagement.

The program is integrated into a mobile app and includes three components.

• Week Card Foodservice Category Value Deals rewarding individual frequency within a week.
• Prepaid Foodservice Bundle Concepts leading to increased visit frequency.
• Personalized Mechanics like 1:1 push notifications and time-sensitive offers to entice customers to come back for more, sooner.

It also features plug-and-play integration with existing point-of-sale (POS) and loyalty systems, allowing for implementation in weeks rather than months. The platform offers retailers complete customization options, real-time analytics and dedicated support from Liquid Barcodes' customer success team.

Lula Commerce, a digital transformation platform for retail stores based in Philadelphia, launched Lula Operators, a suite of AI agents designed to automate e-commerce operations.

Lula Operators are now available to automate operational uptime, ratings and feedback, refunds and disputes and financial auditing and reconciliation.

March Networks, a video surveillance company based in Ottawa, Ontario, launched its AI Smart Search solution. 

Using generative AI, surveillance video images are taken at regular intervals and transformed into a searchable database, allowing customers in retail, banking and other industries to find key operational issues by simply speaking or typing commands.

Users can use voice commands to search through video snapshots quickly and easily. AI Smart Search leverages natural language processing and advanced large language model (LLM) algorithms to identify specific events, people or objects from thousands of cameras across all locations. 

Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia-based Qsic, an in-store audio platform company that uses AI audio and data intelligence, is launching a real-time AI audio ad creation feature. 

While in-store media has historically focused on point-of-sale signage and screens, Qsic delivers AI-powered audio ads at scale paired with curated playlists designed to match a retailer’s brand identity and enhance the shopper experience. 

In January, Qsic announced it closed a $25 million Series B funding round to continue to expand its AI-powered in-store audio platform into new retail locations globally. Qsic powers in-store audio and retail media for retailers and quick-service restaurants (QSRs) such as 7-Eleven, Coles Express and McDonald's. 

Miami-based Vroom Delivery, a digital commerce solutions provider for convenience retailers, and Pittsburgh-based Petrosoft, a convenience-store backoffice and point-of-sale (POS) software provider, have partnered to offer a digital commerce solution that allows retailers of any size to offer all the same deals, offers and promotions digitally as they do in-store. 

Megasaver, a 42-store convenience retailer based in Omaha, Nebraska, launched its online ordering and delivery with Vroom Delivery in late February, managing both its first- and third-party channels. 

“Our implementation with Vroom Delivery and Petrosoft was seamless, enabling us to streamline operations by automatically pushing menus across all delivery platforms, bringing our best products to customers more efficiently,” said Andrew Matthiessen, delivery manager at Megasaver.

Retailers will be able to offer thousands of products online through Vroom Delivery’s predictive inventory and Automated Menu Management (AMM) systems. Soon, these integrations will even extend to order injection, removing the need for store employees to enter in orders at the register and allow their digital commerce solutions to act as virtual point of sales.

Retailers using these integrations can automate all their digital channels, including their first party ordering through their website and app, third-party channels such as Uber Eats and DoorDash and even their in-store ordering kiosks and kitchen management systems.