As grocery retailers look ahead to 2025, some industry experts think vision artificial intelligence technology is poised to transform and streamline operations, reducing food waste and reshaping the way consumers shop for fresh produce.
Alex Siskos, senior vice president of strategy for Everseen, recently offered some predictions for the new year. Eversen is a provider of computer vision AI solutions, currently partnering with some of the world’s top retailers to reduce theft.
The following projections are drawn from Everseen’s experience and their strategic collaborations with tech leaders, such as NVIDIA and Lenovo. Here’s what Siskos, who joined the company in 2017 and has more than 25 years’ experience in retail strategy and analytics, said:
- More than half of retailers will invest in AI platform technology — As retailers recognize the value of unified AI solutions over piecemeal approaches, the company predicts that over half of them will adopt AI platform technology to support a growing range of business applications. This platform approach will enable retailers to apply AI-driven insights across business functions such as loss prevention, inventory management and customer experience. With the tech industry increasingly focused on this market, retailers are well-positioned to integrate foundational AI with tailored applications.
- Blocked theft patterns will rise by up to 25% — In the cat-and-mouse game of theft and loss prevention, would-be thieves continually adapt their techniques. But AI-powered solutions, fueled by data and scale, will continue to become increasingly precise. In 2025, AI is projected to identify new and evolving theft patterns. Everseen, which currently identifies over 30 loss patterns, predicts it will add five to 10 new micropatterns next year.
- C-stores will adopt bulk scanning, surpassing “just walk out” in popularity — Convenience stores are about to get even more convenient. Bulk scanning technology is set to revolutionize the checkout experience, enabling C-store customers to enjoy simple, speedy transactions. Powered by vision AI that instantly recognizes and tallies multiple products at once, this solution offers a seamless alternative to traditional and “just walk out” systems. With convenience giants like Circle K and Phillips 66 already leading the way, bulk scanning is poised to become the go-to model for fast, flexible service in on-the-go retail.
- Self-checkouts will become more customer-friendly — While the number of self-checkouts is predicted to double by 2029, the focus in 2025 will be on improving the self-checkout customer experience. Retailers will increasingly shift away from outdated weigh scale systems, which currently require intervention in approximately 25% of transactions, toward computer vision AI systems with intervention rates as low as 5%. These smarter systems will better differentiate between accidental errors and potential theft, enabling retailers to fine-tune interventions for a smoother, more efficient checkout process.
Speaking further on self-checkout, Siskos said that the AI systems are able to identify different types of produce through the camera, saving the customer from manually searching for an item.
“Can the system identify an apple versus an orange? Yes. Can it identify an apple versus a tomato? Yes. Can it identify a gala versus a fuji apple? It depends on how close the camera is,” he said.
“A customer can put an apple down, and we’ve eliminated the need for a customer to do a PLU search,” Siskos added. “Instead, we pop up the three most obvious options and they pick their item from the choices. It allows the customer to pay for their apples and get out of the store faster.”
