With AI taking over the world, it’s natural every industry will want to hop onto the bandwagon of adding it to their work.  

In retail AI no doubt will play a key role in transforming operations, elevating customer experience and improving business deliverables.  

According to a Forbes report, by 2025, 80% of retail executives expect their companies to use intelligent automation technologies and 40% already use some form of it.  

As Deloitte says in its report, AI, IoT (internet of things), mixed reality, and advanced analytics have the potential to streamline operations, personalise experiences, and even redefine our understanding of shopping. 

Juhi Santani, Principal Designer & Founding Partner of Retale Design Solutions, feels there is indeed a market for the usage of AI in actual store design projects. While it has not been seen much in design development and store adaptions in the Indian market, it’s just a matter of time before someone crack the code to implement AI in this industry, she feels.  

“We do explore store design in the brainstorming phase using visual AI tools such as DALL-E and Midjourney, but we have yet to translate it in the actual design development stage. The reason for doing so is because we need the actual visualization to be of a practical format while the outputs given by AI are mostly fantasy-like,” Juhi tells Retai4Growth. 

She adds, further, “Moreover, our clients do not have any mandatory preference of using AI in the store design,as long as their vision for the customer interface comes out alive. This is not to say we don’t take advantage of AI; the language models are used quite frequently while the visualization AI models are not used as much.”  

As Juhi adds, most designers still prefer visualization using the traditional methods of mood boarding and storytelling because that allows them to think of creative designsthat are closer to the client vision.  

Indian Retail Brands and AI  

Store designs generally aim to balance between storytelling and functionality, especially as Indian brands approach store designs from a conservative and functional perspective with most of them inclined towards grounded stores with higher product density.So the question is how does AI fit in this context? Juhi points out,sharing an interesting observation, “I have seen designers who have used AI for fantasy projects or research-based projects with interesting outputs, but it has been more to demonstrate their skills in AI. I don’t see an Indian brand using that form for their stores, as translating an AI-given vision into an actual store would not fare economically in terms of use of materials, surface finish, props, etc. We are very price sensitive in the way we set up our stores, approach retail, and view the overhead.  I think AI’s strengths would lie in store designs where there is a factor of pure storytelling and exhibitions. Tablo’s and temporary pop-ups would have a higher creative appeal with AI, but the truth is India does not have those kinds of stores.”  

While budget could be one of the main constraints for any Indian brand, there is also a component to AI which is predictable. As Juhi says, AI can give unique solutions based on the keywords inputted, but the human mind can be more creative in terms of working with the brand values, space limitations, product requirements, and more.  

AI and the Future of Store Design 

But all things considered, it’s obvious that AI will continue to integrate itself in the retail design space, though the transition will be a gradual process.  

Speaking on this, Juhi adds, “AI will indeed make everyone’s life easier in a positive aspect, but the transitional phase will have both its pros and cons. It’s hard to let go of our old ways of working. I still notice a strong human creative component in the recent stores that have come out.” Essentially as Juhi says, AI will end up diving the line between those who value superlative quality – something that can only stem from human imagination - and those who settle for something less than top-notch,  something expected or even mediocre – essentially something they don’t have to pay for and which they can get from AI.